School Daze 2: High School Hell
by Eli
Summary: Sequel to 'School Daze'. The kids are growing up!
1. High School Hell

Title: School Daze 2: High School Hell  
  
Author: The lyrical Eli  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Sequel to 'School Daze'. The kids are growing up.  
  
Disclaimer: No, don't own it.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
-September 7, 2019-  
  
Today was his first day of high school. He was extremely nervous as to what would happen in this new school, and hours of all the horror stories of what went on here from his friends and older sister didn't really help.  
  
Especially after hearing what happened to freshmen.  
  
'Breathe, just breathe. You'll be fine, you'll survive this. Oh, god let me survive this.' He thought to himself as he entered the school. Morris High School was old enough to be in their history books and had a little over two thousand five hundred students. And since today was the first day of school, the hallways were packed. He barely had time to glance at his schedule since he had to watch out and make sure he wouldn't run into anyone.  
  
He saw that his first class was in room 1025, but when he looked over the other students at the room numbers, they were all in the 500's and that the way he was going would lead to 400. He sighed and turned the other way the first chance he got.  
  
And ran straight into someone.  
  
"Hey, what the hell you think your doing?" The guy asked him as he pushed Jamie up against the wall. The dude was a foot taller than him  
  
"Sorry, I was trying to get to my class... I didn-" He muttered out, trying to get his thoughts straight.  
  
"Yeah, whatever. You wana start somethin', punk? I think you wanna start something."  
  
Jamie shook his head. "No, I don't want to start anything. Just let me go, I didn't mean anything." The guy just laughed at his response as he re- shoved Jamie back into the wall. He lifted his fist as if he were about to punch him.  
  
CRACK  
  
Before either boy knew it, the guy's arm was twisted behind him as he turned his head and met ice cold blue eyes. "I believe he said he didn't want to start anything. Right?" He asked the guy coldly.  
  
"Yeah, right. Whatever you say, Carver. Just let me go."  
  
"Apologize."  
  
"Sorry, kid. Didn't mean to hassle you. Forgive me." He rasped out quickly, wincing form pain. Jamie smirked. "You're forgiven."  
  
The guy was let go of and walked away as fast as he could. Jamie sighed out of relief as his rescuer glanced at his schedule. "The 1000's hall is the other way. C'mon, I'll get you to your first class." He told him.  
  
Jamie looked up at him, the hero worship that had developed when they were kids popping up once again. "Thanks, Dominic."  
  
-Later-  
  
After conquering a first period of Science AP and a second period of Ninth grade PE, he had at least figured out that left of the front door was the 100 to 800 halls and that right of the front door was 900 to 1600 halls. But his next class, English AP, was in room P11. And since none of the upperclassmen would answer where his class was, he was lost once again.  
  
He walked the length of the 100 hall and exited out the double doors at the end of it. He accidentally knocked over someone who was leaning against the other side when he did. He mumbled an apology and tried to do a U-turn when he was grabbed and shoved outside and once again pushed up against the wall.  
  
But instead of one guy, he was confronted by what looked like to be a whole gang.  
  
The leader was glaring down at him angrily. "Now where the fuck do you think you're runnin' off to, bitch?" The guy asked him as the others started crowding around him. Oh yeah, they were definitely a gang. They all practically had on the same outfit, but with differet colors. And they all sported the same tattoo on the side of their face.  
  
Jamie swallowed hard as he tried to think of what to do. 'Think, James, Think! Why oh why didn't I take the fighting lessons Dad offered me?! I hate fighting, but if I had known high school was filled of people ready to jump you, I would have changed my mind.'  
  
"You stupid or somethin'? Answer me!" The guy demanded. Just as Jamie opened his mouth, someone answered for him.  
  
"Hey, let him go!"  
  
One of the members walked up and tore the guy off him. The guy stared at his friend, totally confused. "Whassup wit you?" He asked him. The guy shrugged.  
  
"The kid didn't do nuthin'. Let him go." He told him as he handed Jamie his schedule, which he didn't know he had even dropped. "Get lost, punk." He told him. Jamie stared at the guy for a second and his jaw almost dropped. The guy came closer to him. "I said, get lost.... Now." He told him. Jamie nodded and went back through the double doors and re-entered the hall. He looked down at his schedule and saw that a note had been scribbled next to it.  
  
Jamie,  
  
When you get to the 400 hall, take a left and exit the first set of double doors you get to. That will take you to the portables.  
  
It's not even 11:00 and you've already been jumped twice? (Talked to Dom.) Kid, you are just like your sister.  
  
Except she was the one who did the jumping, of course.  
  
Be more careful.  
  
Later halfpint,  
  
Nicky  
  
Jamie smiled at the little note, and then groaned when he heard the bell ring. He hissed and took off toward the portables.  
  
-Lunch-  
  
The young fresmen were all scattered around the lunch room. It was such a relief to be out of classes for a while. Jamie had yet to find any of his friends from his middle school anywhere, and he had learned quickly that none of the other students really appreciated being put in a class with an advanced freshman.  
  
He had brought his own lunch, but wasn't hungry. He tossed most of it into the trash as he drank down a bottle of water. He almost choked when someone's arm went around his shoulders and started forcing him to walk.  
  
He looked to the side to see a big guy in with a school jacket on smiling at him. "Hey kid, what's your name?" The guy asked him cheerfully.  
  
"Um, Jamie." He answered cautiously as he was forcefully led out of the cafeteria.  
  
"Well Jamie, my name's Dave. We've been watching you, and we think you have real potential for some of the sports here. You like sports don't ya?"  
  
"Some. Depends." He told him. He figured from the letterman jackets and the girls, mostly cheerleaders, attached to their arms that these guys were probably foot ball players. He pulled himself away from Dave and tried to get as much distance as possible. "Don't think I'll be too good at sports, sorry, see ya." He said as he tried to get away before two of the guys grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to walk in another direction.  
  
Dave smiled evilly. "Oh, don't be modest. I'm sure you'll be quite good at this sport." He told him.  
  
"What sport?"  
  
"Swirly diving." He told him as Dave opened the door to the girl's bathroom, ready to toss Jamie in and give him his first 'practice session'. But he ran into a girl as he tried to get through.  
  
"Excuse you." She told him sharply, not moving from the door. "What do you think your doing?" Her arms were crossed over her chest as her blue eyes glared up at Dave.  
  
"Initiation to high school, now move." He told her.  
  
She shook her head. "I don't think so." She told him as she turned her head to the side, almost swatting him in the face with her curly, dirty blonde hair. "Chris, help a girl out will ya?"  
  
Almost immediately, a guy was next to her facing Dave. "Yes?" He asked her as he wrapped an arm around her Cheerleader skirt clad waist.  
  
"Dave ran into me, told me to get out of his way, and is trying to initiate poor Jamie here." She told him with a fake pout.  
  
Chris looked over at Dave. "Really now? I wouldn't think so, considering what a riot it would be if the to be captain of the foot ball team got caught hazing one of the freshmen."  
  
"You wouldn't."  
  
"Oh, I would, and without a second thought. Now have Lance and Drake put him down, 'fore I make them put him down." He ordered. Dave mumbled something and they let go off him and walked off, shaking their heads.  
  
Jamie straightened his clothes out. "Thanks, guys. I'd be dead without you."  
  
She smiled. "Welcome, Jamie. You know we couldn't let you get beat up... Who else would help me with my homework?" She asked him.  
  
"Yeah, and if she fails her classes, she gets grounded, and we can't go out. It's a cycle, man." Chris glanced at the clock. "Oh, we gotta go. See ya later, Jamie."  
  
"Bye Jamie."  
  
"Bye Chris, bye Gracie." He called after them as they walked off together.  
  
-Still Later-  
  
He dragged himself into his last class and grabbed a seat in the middle. He was getting awfully tired from getting lost so much. But at least this was the end of it.  
  
Algebra 2 AP.  
  
Like most of his other classes, he was surronded by upperclassmen. Most of them were eyeing him since he looked so young, and he tried his best to shrink himself into his seat.  
  
As soon as the bell rang, the teacher locked the door and refused to let in any late students. He gave them all a long boring lecture about how he expected everyone in this class to be trying to thrive for perfection, being advanced students and blah blah blah blah. Jamie acted as if he were listening, but was really just counting down the minute still he could go home.  
  
The teacher, Mr. Reyes, then took role. He was ruthless. If you didn't answer yes immeidately, he marked you absent. When he got to Jamie, he stopped. "You have a sister?" He asked him cautiously. He nodded. The teacher gave him a strange look before going on.  
  
Inwardly, he groaned. 'Damn it, what did she do to him? I can already tell he hates her and now he'll hate me! Why does this always happen? Would it be so hard for her not to torture her teachers?'  
  
After role, Mr. Reyes went into another long, dull lecture about the class. He did that till there were five minutes left of school. And then, he informed them all that their homework was page 7, questions 1-39. "I want you all to partner off to study, and I want you to do it in class. If you can't convince anyone to be your partner, you will have to do 40-71 as well. There is no I in team. Now get a partner."  
  
Jamie looked around frantically for a friendly face. He liked math, but not enough to do another 31 problems. All of the others seemed to get as far away form his as possible. Everyone had paired off and turned in papers that named the pair of partners. He laid his head on his desk and waited for the teacher to assign him more work.  
  
After he had looked through the papers, Mr. Reyes said he was pleased that everyone had done what he said. Jamie's head flew up in surprise. He looked around the class for whoever had done him the favor.  
  
He spotted a thin girl in the back, brown hair put up into two funky buns on the top of her head. She looked at him and nodded, a half smile on her face. He breathed out in relief. While the teacher had his back turned to write something out on the board, Jamie scribbled out a note and held it up for her to read.  
  
Thanks, Teresa. I love you forever and ever and ever  
  
She laughed and rolled her eyes. She put her hand to her heart and faked a sigh before she turned to the side to flirt with the guy sitting next to her.  
  
The bell rang a minute later and the whole class hurried out. Jamie grabbed his back pack and did his best not to run out of class. He didn't wait for Teresa since she was busy trying her charms on some guy.  
  
He still had to go to the school library and get some stuff for his English class, so he ended up having to walk the opposite direction everyone else was going. He did his best to arrange himself so that he barely brushed past everyone. He was almost to the library when two guys and a girl came up to him.  
  
"Oh, what do we got here?" The taller of the guys asked.  
  
"I think it's fresh meat." The girl answered as she smiled wickedly.  
  
"Do you know what we do to freshmen, kid?" The other guy asked him. Jamie was too tired to try and talk his way out of it, and just shook his head, trying to seem too stupid to bother with.  
  
All three of them smiled. "Then we'll just hafta show you!" The girl told him as the guys grabbed his arms and she grabbed his legs. He struggled as hard as he could as they carried him over to the trash can. They held him above it, ready to drop him in when....  
  
CRASH  
  
The trash can was knocked over and the people trying to can him were all on the ground. He was standing straight up, and someone's hand was on his shoulder.  
  
"Who the hell did that?" The girl asked as the three of them all looked up and their jaws dropped. "Nottingham girl...."  
  
"Yes." Bethany told them. "Get up."  
  
They did as she said.  
  
"Now, were you trying to can this poor kid?" She asked them.  
  
"Yeah, all the upperclassmen can a freshmen."  
  
"I don't. I canned the upperclassmen who tried to can me, but you already know that." She said with a smirk. "Now, usually I let our school's not so serious hazing go on since well, that's part of the high school experience. But you guys were dumb enough to not even ask the freshmen his name. Do you know what this kid's name is?" She asked them as they shook their heads.  
  
"His name is James Nottingham." She waited a minute so that she could enjoy the faces they were making. "So that makes him MY younger brother. So that means you can all go away. Now go!" They all ran off as fast as they could.  
  
Jamie sighed and turned to face her. "That was the fouth damn time that has happened to me today! Geez, don't they have anything better to do? What kind of school are mom and dad sending us to?"  
  
"The same one we ALL go to. Makes things easier. Have homework?" She asked him sweetly.  
  
"Yeah, it's only the first day and I hate it here already." He grumbled. Beth put her arm around her little brother's shoulders and started leading him to the library.  
  
"Welcome to high school hell."  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Goth  
  
Eli: I am so incredibly sorry it took so long for this to get out!!!! I will try to do multiple post whenever I can update! I hope you love the new editions! 


	2. The Goth

~Moon hangs around  
  
a blade over my head  
  
reminds me  
  
what to do before I'm dead~  
  
Bethany stretched herself out as her music started blasting slightly on her MP3. She had been out of bed half an hour and had already gotten to the bathroom before anyone else in her family could. Her family was fairly small, but it could be as hectic as the biggest household when it came to fighting over the bathroom.  
  
She stripped off her gray jammies and started pulling on her outfit for the day.  
  
~Night consumes light  
  
and all I dread  
  
reminds me  
  
what to do before I'm dead~  
  
Black was her main color, her fashion following her from birth to sixteen. She pulled on a pair of black cargo pants, securing them with a black belt with a ninja design on the side. (Her mom wouldn't let her get the one with the spikes because she said Bethany could barely be trusted with anything she could hit people with, let alone something she could hit people with that had spikes on it.) After putting on her black tank with a see-through long sleeve shirt over it, she pulled on her socks and then her black combat boots.  
  
She went over to her mirror and put her hair up into a long, secure pony tail that would keep her god awful curly hair out of her face. (She still hoped her mom's genes would kick in more and make her hair straighter and more manageable.)  
  
~Sun reclines, heats my mind  
  
reminds me what to leave behind  
  
light eats night and all I never said  
  
reminds me what to do before I'm~  
  
Loud knocking could be heard on her door, along with some equally loud yelling. "Bethany, hurry up! You and Jamie are gonna be late, and your dad still needs to drop off Andy." Her mother screamed at her, that being the only way to get anything heard on the other side of the wall.  
  
"Just a minute mom." She mumbled as she applied some black lip liner and then black lip gloss over it. She ignored her eye liner, being too lazy to try and add it without poking her eye out today. She pulled on her long, girlish trench coat and grabbed her binder as she opened her door. She took about two steps away when she hissed and flew back in.  
  
~To see you  
  
to touch you~  
  
She slammed her door shut as she fumbled with her chain necklace that had her dragon ring on it one handed. She left it on there since she knew her fingers would probably never be big enough to fit it. She juggled the necklace, her MP3, and her binder as she got the chain to clasp together. She turned the sound down on one ear as she walked down the hall.  
  
She went into the kitchen where her two younger brothers were finishing up their breakfast. She didn't even bother to sit down as she practically inhaled her food. "You're onna oke to eath if ou eep oing hat." Andrew told her warningly as he ate his burnt toast.  
  
"Chew your food with your mouth closed, Andy." Sara called to him as she checked her weapon before putting it back into the holster.  
  
~Epochs fly, reminds me  
  
what I hide, reminds me  
  
the desert skies  
  
cracks the spies  
  
reminds me what I never tried~  
  
"You should talk." Bethany told him as she downed her coffee. She made a sour face after she swallowed. "Andy, did you make coffee again today?"  
  
"Uh huh, Jamie gave me a quarter to do it for him." He told her proudly.  
  
She winced at her mug and put it into the sink. "Yeah, I could tell." She said as she glared at Jamie.  
  
~The ocean wide  
  
salted red  
  
reminds me  
  
what to do before I'm~  
  
He shrugged innocently. "What?"  
  
"You know what."  
  
"Have no clue what you're talking about."  
  
"Yeah ya do."  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
"Uh huh!"  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Now I know you two aren't beginning to fight, are you?" Ian asked them both sternly. They both looked down.  
  
~To see you  
  
to touch you  
  
to feel you  
  
to tell you~  
  
"No dad." They both mumbled as Andy laughed at them quietly.  
  
"Good, now all of you grab your stuff so we can go." He told them. The boys grabbed their back packs as they all three of them started out the door. Sara opened the door for them as they kissed her on the cheek before they left.  
  
"Alright, love you guys. Be good. And don't you dare hurt anybody." She warned them as Bethany shrugged. "I'm serious, young lady, I don't want to go to another discipline conference for at least two weeks." She told her. "Stay still a second." Bethany put her hands up as her mom checked her for weapons.  
  
"C'mon, mom!" She whined.  
  
"Don't you c'mon me, Bethany Marie Nottingham, I know you!" Sara told her. "Done, have a good day at school."  
  
"Alright." She mumbled as she went out the door, her dad behind her. The kids waited in the hallway impatiently as their parents prolonged their good byes.  
  
~The sun reclines.... Remind me  
  
the desert skies.... Remind me  
  
the ocean wide salted red  
  
reminds me what to do before I'm~  
  
"Ewl!!" Andrew said as he turned his head away.  
  
"Okay, enough traumatizing us as you make out, let's go!" Bethany said as she started walking to the car. She claimed shot gun first and jumped in when her dad hit the locks so that Andy wouldn't try to steal it by coming from behind the chair and sitting down.  
  
She turned her other head phone back up as she hit the repeat button.  
  
-Later-  
  
~To see you  
  
to touch you  
  
to feel you  
  
to tell you  
  
Lahahahahaha.  
  
Lahahahahaha.  
  
Lahahahahaha.~  
  
Andrew had already been dropped off and Jamie was lounging on the seat as their dad pulled up to the school. He opened the door and got out, barely waving before he started rushing toward his locker for his Science AP book. Bethany leaned over to kiss her dad on the cheek. When she did, he took away her MP3 player.  
  
"Daddy!" She whined.  
  
"It's not allowed in school. Sorry, sweetie."  
  
"It's only not allowed in school if they see it...."  
  
"Go to school, Bethany."  
  
She hissed. "Fine, bye dad." She said quietly as she shut the door to the car and her dad drove off.  
  
Bethany started up toward her school, her face stoic as she passed the hundreds of people that she didn't know, but who knew her. People cleared out of her way as she had a clear path to her first class. She accidentally bumped into a girl who was standing in the middle of the hallway as she talked into her cell phone. The girl turned to her and glared. "Hey, watch it bi-" Her mouth shut as Bethany glared back at her.  
  
"What?" Beth asked her coldly.  
  
"Nothing, nothing." She mumbled as she walked off. "Freak." She whispered.  
  
'Damn straight.' Bethany thought to herself as she started off for class again, rubbing the adjoined silver lined circles on her wrists. She felt them heat up slightly and smirked. She turned her head to the side. "Am I amusing you, Dom?" She asked playfully.  
  
"I don't get tired of watching you do that." He told her as he walked beside her. She felt him scoot close enough to just barely be touching her shoulder. He was the only guy that was allowed to do that, and she knew he did it to chase away any competitors. She rolled her eyes. 'I shouldn't let him do that. It's not like we're dating or anything. We're just friends.'  
  
Bethany saw her class and turned away from him. "Later."  
  
He nodded his head. "Yeah, later." He said quietly as he walked off.  
  
Bethany walked into the class and could hear people grow quiet. Since there was no teacher present, she walked past her usual seat to the back of the class and stood by the desk she liked. It was already occupied. She tapped the kid on the shoulder and smiled. The guy stared at her in shock. She motioned with her head for him to move. He grabbed his book and went toward the front.  
  
She sat back in her seat just as Teresa came into the classroom. "Hey."  
  
"Hey."  
  
Teresa took the seat next to her. They had been best friends since birth and they figured it would stay that way through out the rest of their lives. No teacher showed up when the bell rang, so everyone started doing whatever they wanted until the sub walked in.  
  
"Hello class. My name is Mr. Anderson and I will be your sub for today. Your regular teacher, Mr. Myers is out due to... medical problems." He announced to the class. Teresa and Beth looked at each other and laughed inwardly. "It's nothing serious and he shouldn't be gone for more than two weeks."  
  
Bethany accidentally laughed a little too loud at that one.  
  
"Do you find something about your teacher being injured funny, miss?" Mr. Anderson asked her.  
  
"No, I think it's funny that the school is covering for someone who tried to grope one of his students and got two broken arms for it. Nice to know we're being left in the best of hands." She told him seriously.  
  
The guys eyes narrowed at her a bit. "What's your name, kid?" He asked her angrily. The rest of the kids tilted away, knowing who would win this.  
  
"Bethany Nottingham." She said proudly. She saw him flinch, even though he tried to hide it.  
  
"Well, er, then Bethany, how would you know if his injury is a result of him trying to grope a student or not? How do you know that's not a rumor?" He asked, his tone much lighter than it had before. Teresa was in tears from laughing so hard and having to keep it in. Bethany smirked and winked at him as she said,  
  
"Believe me, Mr. Anderson, I know."  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Smart One  
  
Eli: Hey all! Glad so many people like the new story! Here's her info:  
  
Age: 16 Grade: 11  
  
More to come with more chapters. Thanks for the reviews! The song is 'Before I'm Dead' by the Kidney Thieves. 


	3. The Smart One

Eli: Glad you all like the story!! Dragongrrl, it depends on the circumstances, especially if it narrows down to student's word versus teachers. But yeah, usually the teacher would be fired. Here's the story, and as always, Enjoy!  
  
He hissed as he slammed his locker shut. "Damn it!" He said under his breath.  
  
Jamie had been at school for less than a month, and he already wanted to kill himself. Although no one had dared to try and jump him after his first day, some people just couldn't help but make his life miserable.  
  
They had shredded his PE clothes, ripped up his homework, drawn all over his notebooks. Even with all his friends looking out for him, they just couldn't be everywhere. Besides, he didn't want them to fight for him all the time. And most of the pranks took place while he turned his head, so he was never sure who was guilty, though he had plenty of guesses.  
  
This time they had filled his locker full of ants. He had to spend his lunch period cleaning it out, which was even more ruined to the fact that his lunch had been infested with the insects. The bell rang and he started heading toward his next class, World History.  
  
He hated this class the most. Not only was he the only freshman in his class, but the only freshman taking the class at all. He had to get special permission to enter the class a year early. He wished his parents had never signed the contract. It was the school's idea to put him in more advance classes, not his. So what if it looked good on a college application form? If things continued, he wouldn't live long enough to make it to college.  
  
All Jamie himself wanted was to just fit in.  
  
He proceeded to the back of his class as he sunk in his seat and started drawing in his notebook. Maybe today he could remain invisible enough to get through class unscathed... Then he felt something hit him in the back of the head. He sighed and tried to get whatever it was out of his hair. 'Dare to dream, Jamie, dare to dream...'  
  
The teacher came in late, as always. Ms. Wright was a young teacher and very forgetful. Since her class was so easy, she was very popular with most of the students, who she let get away with sin. Jamie didn't like her. She often assigned homework that she would forget to collect, her class was far behind all the others, and the work wasn't challenging him at all.  
  
"Hello class, sorry I was late." She mumbled to them as she set up her lab top on her desk. She pulled the World History book out of her bag and dropped it onto the desk with a loud thud. Jamie shook his head. 'This teacher is a joke. Mom and Dad would kill the school for putting me in her class.' He thought to himself.  
  
"Okay, now who can tell me what the homework assignment was last night?" She asked. Everyone remained quiet. "Oh come on, I'm sure you all got it done."  
  
She moved from behind her desk and started walking around her class. She came up to Jamie's desk. "Open up your binder, please." She asked him. Jamie gritted his teeth as he opened it up to reveal his homework. Ms. Wright picked up his paper. "Okay, your homework was Chapter two review. Everyone please get their homework out so that we can correct it." She walked back to the front of class and started reading off his paper. Everyone glared back at him, and he sunk even further into his seat.  
  
Jamie tried his best to keep a low profile. He wore regular clothes, kept his light brown hair short and ordinary. He kept his bright green eyes down most of the time. He never raised his hand to answer questions or volunteer to go up and demonstrate things on the board. He didn't mean for things like this homework incident to happen, but they just did. He put his head down on top of his arms and sighed.  
  
'Why can't I just disappear?' He thought to himself.  
  
-Later-  
  
Jamie stuffed his things back into his locker as he went to go wait for his dad to pick him up. He was so ready to go home. He felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around. "Yes?" He asked meanly.  
  
The person behind him flinched back a little. "Sorry to bug you and all, but you left this in class." She handed Jamie his black notebook.  
  
Jamie instantly felt guilty. "Oh, thanks. Sorry I snapped at you, bad day." He apologized.  
  
She shrugged. "Wouldn't blame you. Everyone was hating on you in class and everything. They're a pack of wolves. I mean, it's not your fault you actually do your homework." She smiled. "You're lucky to be so smart."  
  
He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, well then I hope to run out of luck sometime soon." He said, studying the girl in front of him. She was short, blonde. She seemed to have too much sugar in her system and couldn't stay still as she kept her hands busy playing with a key chain.  
  
"No, seriously. I mean, you take classes that are harder and still get better grades them most of the kids in your grade. I think that's pretty cool." She told him adoringly.  
  
He looked at her curiously, not sure if to trust her, but he did smile politely. "Thanks."  
  
"Welcome." She glanced at her watch. "Okay, I have to go. Nice talking to you, James, right?"  
  
"Jamie." He corrected. "And, sorry, you are...?"  
  
"Misty." She said. "It's short for Mystique." She winced as he tried to hide his laughter. "My parents are extreme X-Men fans. Talk to you later, see ya!" And she took off.  
  
He started walking toward the front of the school. "Well, at least someone here doesn't hate me." He said out loud as his sister came up behind him.  
  
"Hey Jamie. Heard your locker got turned into an ant farm." She said sympathetically. He nodded. She handed him a piece of paper.  
  
He unfolded it and looked over at her confused. "What's this?"  
  
"The lockers plus combinations to the boys who put the ants into your locker." She smiled mischievously. "Your the smart one in this family, so I'm sure you'll think of something."  
  
He looked back at her, his grin just as evil looking. "Already have."  
  
"Then go catch a ride home with Chris after his practice is over with. I'll go tell Dad you went to the library to study for class." She told him as she started toward the car. "Oh, and Jamie?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Tell me all about that blonde chick when you get home." She said sweetly. He shut his eyes for a second. He went to say something back, but when he looked again, she was gone. He shook his head. "Beth and her damn ninja training."  
  
-The Next Day-  
  
Jamie came to school early and stayed by the water fountain as one of the boys came up to his locker and unlocked it. The guy opened it, flinched back, and slapped it shut again as soon as he could. He shook his head and opened it again, this time the contents falling out onto him and making everyone around him crack up.  
  
Jamie laughed along with the rest of the people watching as a teacher came over and started scolding him for hoarding all the tampons from the girl's bathroom. He shook his head.  
  
'And this is only the first one.' He thought to himself happily as he thought of how the other two boys would feel when they got the same special surprise in their lockers.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Cheerleader  
  
Jamie's info: Age: 14 Grade: 9 


	4. The Cheerleader

Eli: Hey everyone! Thanks for all the reviews!! Prophet, glad you are up and about again! And yeah, I kinda got the idea from Carrie, Fae Rain.I'm at school right now, so I can only hope the school computer doesn't mess up the chapter! *pray, pray, pray* Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!  
  
"Damn hair!" Gracie mumbled as she tried to force her hair into two pony tails at the back of her head, which was very hard to do with dirty blonde hair that had curls that rivaled Shirley Temple at times. She was trying not to nibble on her toothbrush that she had left in her mouth.  
  
"Gracie, you're gonna be late!"  
  
She spit out her toothbrush into the sink. "Yeah, Ma, I'm coming." She answered as she threw her brush over her shoulder and started out the door. She saw her shoe lace was untied and groaned. She lifted her foot up and started hoping toward the stairs. She put her foot down and ran down the stairs. Vicky handed Grace her jacket and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye sweetie."  
  
"Bye, Ma." She said quickly as she opened the door and flew out. Vicky watched as her daughter cleared the fence and rushed into her friend's car. She shook her head. "Kids." She said to herself as she closed the doors.  
  
-Later-  
  
"Hey crowd get pumpin'! Our team is jumpin'!" The squad cheered on. She smiled happily as they went through their routine for what felt like the tenth time. 'How many times are you allowed to do this per game? Stephanie really needs to mix it up a little!" She thought to herself after she did a split jump.  
  
"Rebels think they're somethin'. But we're gonna...." Stomp, stomp. "CRUSH EM'!"  
  
Gracie looked over at the field and spotted Chris. When she knew he was looking at her she smiled and winked. "Ready, set, let's go! We ain't here just for show! We want to see some spirit! So c'mon, Dragons, let's hear it!" She started jumping around, shouting at the top of her lungs.  
  
'God, this is so fun. Beth and Reese have no idea what they are missing.' She thought to herself before she got hoisted up for flipping. "Goooooooooo team!" She shouted. She loved games. She always had so much fun! And if things got boring, she could just stare at her boyfriend and she would be entertained again.  
  
She sighed. She loved Chris. She had loved him forever, and she knew he felt the same way. Publicly, they had only been dating for two years, but in reality they had been dating for a little over five years. She hadn't liked hiding it, but she didn't like the idea of her dad putting a bullet in her boyfriend either.  
  
She forced herself to look away from Chris and clapped her hands together. Clap. "Hey Trojans! Say what?" Clap. "Bow down! Say what?" Shake, jump split, left, right, left. "Trojans, you ain't got a prayer, cause you've just entered the dragon's lair! Go Dragons!"  
  
'God I love this!' She thought to herself.  
  
-Later-  
  
Chris met up with her after the game. He kissed her lightly on the lips. "Hey."  
  
She smiled. "Hey." She replied before she kissed him again. And again. And again. And....  
  
"Break it up you two!"  
  
Chris looked over at the parental voice, and the two of them broke off. "Hey Aunt Vicky." He said with a smile.  
  
Gracie winced. "Hey Ma!" She said sweetly. "You know how much I love you, right?" She asked her as she moved away from Chris and put her arms around her mother's shoulders. She was an inch or two taller than Vicky now.  
  
Vicky rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just be glad I'm picking you up and not Danny." 'Or your father if he could see you now.' She added in her head.  
  
Gracie's smile started to fade away. "Oh, you're here to pick us up? I thought Dad was suppose to..." She bit her lip as she waited for her mom to answer, already  
  
"He had to cancel. He said he's really sorry and that he'll make it up to you." Vicky told her.  
  
Gracie nodded. "Alright. I'm sure he will." She said dryly. She was beyond him by now. She never really expected him to come when he said he would. She had been dealing with it for more than half her life. 'Why do I even try to give him the benefit of the doubt? I know better than to.' She thought to herself. She felt Chris behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist.  
  
She turned her head and smiled a bit. "Hey, didn't you promise me ice cream earlier?" She asked him mischievously. He nodded. "Yeah, I did. Is it alright if I take her out Aunt Vicky?" He asked.  
  
She gave them her best thinking look. "Welllllllllll.........." She glanced over at them and saw their expressions of joy get cut off and laughed. "Of course you can. You know what time she needs to be home." Gracie smiled again and kissed her mom's cheek.  
  
"Thanks Ma!" She said happily before the two teens started heading for his car.  
  
"Wait, before you go, you might want to swing by the car and say hi to Joey since he wanted to see you." She told them.  
  
"Sure thing." She said as she quickly took off toward the car. She came up to the driver's window and knocked on it. "Hey Joey." She and Chris said together.  
  
"Hey guys, you sure kicked ass tonight! Ready to go?" He asked excitedly.  
  
"Sorry, Chris's gonna take me out a bit. Next time?" She asked him as she twirled the end of one of her pony tails.  
  
"Of course. Have fun." He told her before he looked at Chris. "You behave and keep it in your pants, mister!" He said seriously.  
  
"Sir, yes sir." Chris answered before Gracie dragged him away. Vicky walked up to the car and got in.  
  
"Don't ya think that was a bit unnecessary?" She asked him.  
  
"No, why?" He asked innocently and confused. Vicky just giggled and shrugged. "Never mind. Let's get back to the house, since we have a while for ourselves." She told him, and a few seconds later they were gone.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Jock  
  
Thanks for all the reviews. Here is Gracie's short bio:  
  
Age: 15 Grade: 10 and for the record, Vicky and Joey are not married, but they do live together. And Jake is, well, Jake. 


	5. The Jock

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  
  
Chris slammed his hand over his alarm clock and sat up. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to wake up as he kicked off his covers. He swung his legs over and stood up, wincing at how cold everything in the room was. It made him wish that he had decided to keep his and Nicky's old room instead of moving into Luke's old room. Their room had always been warm.  
  
He stretched and headed toward the bathroom to clean up. On the way, he passed Nicky's room, which was blaring out rap music. He banged on the wall. "Turn it off, it's too early in the damn morning!" He yelled out to Nicky, only answered by the music getting turned up. "Ass." He murmured as he walked into the bathroom.  
  
-Later-  
  
He was ready for school more than an hour before it started. The guy looked good in his stone washed jeans, white Adidas, and grey shirt with a blue and white line going across it. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew he looked more than a bit like a prep. He couldn't help it. He liked the clothes, but he hated the title that came with it. And to the fact he liked to play sports only added to it.  
  
He sat at his desk finishing up his Economics homework. He wasn't one to stay up all night doing homework, but he was one to wake up early to get it done. Besides, he was usually pretty tired after practice. (Especially since the league games were coming up fast. The coaches had been working them all raw.) After another ten minutes of re-reading the chapter and answering questions, he put them all away in his folder and then shoved his folder into his backpack with his Econ and Trig books.  
  
He swung his backpack on and looked around his spotless, perfectly neat room for anything else he would need. 'Don't have practice since it's a short day, so I don't need my bag.' He thought to himself. 'I already packed away my English report rough draft disks for class. Don't need my Spanish book today, art book is in my locker. Got my wallet, my keys, ear ring (sliver stud in left ear.), got my ne-' He felt around his throat and looked over to his nightstand. "Necklace." He said out loud as he grabbed it off of the picture frame he kept it on.  
  
The picture frame, just behind his alarm clock, had two pictures of him and his girlfriend, Grace. The one on the bottom showed them eight years younger, him nine her six, as they faced the camera on a tire swing. The upper picture was of them in formal ware at the Junior Prom. He clasped his necklace on behind him on his way out. The necklace was a dual present that they had given to each other for their fourth anniversary, the first year they had been dating out in the open. They had gotten each other YingYang necklaces that were completed when they got put together. He had been so relieved when Grace was finally old enough for him to date in front of their parents. It had been hard to keep it a secret from everyone. (Though Nicky, Beth, Dom, and Teresa had figured it out on their own and had simply never said anything.) He rubbed his half of the YingYang and smiled. He liked being able to wear it out in the open.  
  
He left his room to go downstairs and eat breakfast, carefully shutting his door behind him. At the same time, Nicky opened his door and walked out. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. When they were kids, you could barely tell them apart. Nowadays they were so different you wouldn't think they were siblings, let alone identical twins. Chris nodded in greetings to Nicky as he went downstairs. Nicky stayed upstairs and just stared on at him stoically.  
  
Chris wasn't quite sure when, but he and Nicky had drifted to polar ends of each other and never seemed to talk anymore. It bugged him more than he let on, but Nicky wasn't being cooperative. It seemed like he resented Chris, and sometimes Nicky was just too much for him to deal with.  
  
He went into the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal as his dad prepared to leave. He and his dad had a pretty good relationship. Chris behaved pretty well, and Danny knew alot about what was going on in his son's life. The same went with his Mom. Despite how hectic school got, home was pretty good for him, and he was thankful for it.  
  
-Later-  
  
He got to school early, as usual, and started cleaning up his locker. He was trying to get rid of the left over boy band stickers the last occupant had forgotten to remove at the end of the year. Chris knew he looked more than a bit ridiculous, him a big bad football player leaning into the locker trying to clean it up like a friggin' maid. But he knew if he didn't, his anal retentive side would go homicidal. He heard laughter from behind him and looked over his shoulder, ready to tell his team mates off. When he saw who it was, his mood softened as he fake glared at her. "What are you laughin' at?"  
  
Gracie shut her mouth and tried to hide her smirk. "Nothing, nothing at all." She told him as she failed to keep her face straight and started laughing again. Chris straightened up and slammed the door to his locker shut. Gracie pouted a bit and put her arm partly around his waist. "Oh, c'mon. Girls like a guy who can clean up after himself. Cleans the dishes, does the laundry, puts the toilet seat down and the whole nine yards. It's kinda sexy." She told him.  
  
He smirked and put a hand under her chin to raise her head up. "That so, hm?" He whispered before he kissed her. The two of them were occupied for a little while before they were interrupted.  
  
"Get a room!"  
  
They broke apart and both laughed as they looked around, spotting Beth, Dom, and Teresa turning the corner as they took off like the culprits they were. Chris shook his head as the ten minute bell rang. He walked Grace to her class.  
  
"So, did you do your homework?" He asked her lightly.  
  
She winced. "Uh....." She murmured as she shrugged. He sighed. "Grrrrrrrraaaaaaaaacccccciiiiieeeeeeee..." He moaned out. She hit his shoulder. "Yes, I did my homework. Don't worry." She assured him.  
  
"I have every reason to worry. You don't pass your classes, you can't go out and date. Your miserable, I'm miserable." He reasoned out as they got to her class.  
  
"I know, I know!" She answered as they kissed again. When they broke off, he looked down and glanced at her necklace, the one that matched his. "See you at lunch." She told him as she went into class. He watched her get into her seat before he went off to his first period.  
  
He wasn't fond of English. He wasn't all that creative and writing came hard for him. It wasn't a good class to have first thing in the morning, but it was the only way to get the rest of his schedule to work.  
  
He turned the corner to go down to the portables and crashed into a freshmen kid a bit. "Oh, sorry... Didn't mean to..." The kid mumbled out hurriedly as he bent to pick up his books. Chris bent as well to help him out. "No, my fault, sorry." He told the kid as he handed him his books. The kid looked at him suspiciously as he took the books from him. He nodded and pushed up his glasses as he practically ran away.  
  
Chris sighed. The one thing he really hated about sports was that it gave him a bad rep sometimes. Though he knew there were some stereo typical jocks out there, he knew he was not anything like them. He didn't haze other kids, he didn't drink, he didn't sleep around, and he got decent grades on his own skill, not on curve. He was a good kid and tried to act like it, but it got hard to when everyone expected him to behave another way. He shook his head as he reached his English class and took his seat in the front, too upset to chat with the friends he had in the class. He pulled out his English binder with his disks and waited for class to start. He glanced at the clock and tried to be optimistic.  
  
'Four years of acting good has to pay off sometime...'  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Bad Boy  
  
Chris's info:  
  
Age: 18 Grade: 12 If you haven't guessed already, he is on the varsity foot ball team and he is also on the basketball team. 


	6. The Bad Boy

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  
  
Nicky turned over in his sleep, ignoring the annoying alarm clock. After  
another two minutes of beeping at him, he put his pillow over his head and  
mumbled about it being too early. Another five minutes and he rolled over  
and started pounding blindly on his night stand with his fist until it came  
in contact with his clock. As soon as it stopped beeping at him, Nicky  
switched it onto the radio as he turned onto his stomach and went back to  
sleep.  
  
~Uh, uh, uh, yeah, uh, your boy is back  
(Sexy sexy) I know y'all miss the bounce  
Need to bounce for the sexy you know  
Yeah ma, your dude is back, made back roof is back  
Tell the whole world the truth is back  
You ain't got to argue about who could rap  
Cause the proof is back just go through my rap  
New York New York yeah where my troopers at  
Where my hustlers where my boosters at  
I don't care what you do for stacks  
I know the world glued you back to the wall  
You gotta brawl to that~  
  
He was almost asleep again when he heard someone pounding on his wall.  
"Turn it off, it's too early in the damn morning!" He heard Chris shout at  
him. He growled as he reached over and turned up the volume. He didn't hear  
Chris complain anymore as he laid back down satisfied. 'Like I'm ever gonna  
listen to you, asshole.' He thought to himself.  
  
~I been through that, been shot at shoot back  
Gotta keep it peace like a buddhist  
I ain't a New Jack nobody 'gon Wesley Snipe me  
It's less than likely, move back  
Let I breathe Jedi knight  
The more space I get the better I write  
(Oh) Never I write, but, if, ever I write  
I need the space to say whatever I like, now just~  
  
Nicky was now too awake to try sleeping again. He crawled out of bed slowly  
and dragged himself out of bed. He glanced at his reflection in his mirror  
and shook his head. He looked as bad as he felt. He had fallen asleep in  
his clothes again after the boys had dropped him off and he had climbed up  
the drain pipe to his room. He pulled his wrap off his head and threw it  
onto the floor.  
  
His clothes were caked with dirt and smelled like BO. He stripped himself  
of his clothes as he tried to remember what he did to get them this filthy.  
  
~(Change clothes and go) You know I stay, fresh to deatth I brought you  
from the projects  
And I'm a take you to the top of the globe so let's go (Change numbers and  
go)  
Uh huh yeah, uh (Now girl I promise you, no substitute) It's just me~  
  
He pulled on a large white clean tank top as he looked around his cluttered  
room for a pair of jeans that didn't have any stains on it. The teenager  
put on the first some what clean pair he found, wrapping a belt through the  
loops to keep himself from getting pantsed. Then, he went into the bathroom  
connected to his room and got ready for the day.  
  
~And I 'gon tell you again let's get ghost in the phantom  
You could bring your friend we copuld make this a tandem  
You could come by yourself and you could stand him  
Best believe I sweat out weaves, give afropuffs like R.A.G.E.  
Awww you get If you could move it  
Back it on up like a U Haul truck  
Then run and tell them thugs you heard Hovi knew  
He and the boy for real make beautiful music  
He is to the east coast what Snoop is, to the west coast what Face is to  
Houston~  
  
He went back into his room and glanced in the mirror again. Much better. He  
ignored the bags under his eyes as he had to reapply the black marks he  
always had on with the removable tattoo pen to make sure they looked nice  
and fresh instead of faded.  
  
His black hair got brushed back quickly as he pulled on another wrap and  
secured it. He pulled on his shoes and then put on another shirt over his  
tank top as he grabbed his binder and glanced at his clock.  
  
~Young Hov in the house it's so necessary  
No bra with the blouse it's so necessary  
No panties and jeans that's so necessary  
Now why you frontin on me is that necessary  
Do I to you look like a lame  
Who don't understand a bra with a mean shoe game  
Whose up on Dot Dot Dot and Vera Wang  
Ma are you insane, let's just  
(What you want me to do?)  
Change clothes and go) You know I stay, fresh to deatth I brought you from  
the projects  
And I'm a take you to the top of the globe so let's go (Change numbers and  
go)  
Uh huh yeah, uh (Now girl I promise you, no substitute) It's just me~  
  
He shut off his radio as Lee yelled at him to shut his music off and get  
downstairs before he was late. He hissed in her direction as he looked at  
his binder again, trying ot figure out where to stash it so that he could  
get to it again before class, but not let the others see it. He had to get  
to school early.  
  
He threw on his gold chain as he opened his door and started to walk out.  
He stopped as Chris walked by. Nicky's eyes narrowed at him as Chris nodded  
to him and walked down the stairs. He didn't return it. Nor would he.  
  
It was hard to think they were related. Chris was clean cut and preppy, his  
hair short and a bit spikey, and his body mass was a bit bigger than his  
(Had to be all the practices he went to). Nicky was more intense and  
dressed like those singing the rap/hip hop he listened to. His hair was  
medium length and kept back in a short pony tail, and he was slim and  
skinny, though he had muscle on him.  
  
Nicky waited upstairs patiently until he heard Chris leave for school. Only  
then did he go downstairs to face his parents. His mother scolded him  
lightly to pull up his pants, which he did to shut her up. He ignored his  
plate of food as he just drank down a glass of orange juice. Danny started  
questioning him about what he had been up to the previous night. Nicky got  
defensive as he expertly lied his way out of a corner. He didn't say a word  
to either of his parents as he left the house.  
  
-Later-  
  
The writing class had already been in session for half an hour when Nicky  
and two of his friends came to class, all three handing in the notes the  
campus security had written out. Nicky took his seat, second to last on the  
right. He picked up the binder that he had placed in the side of it as he  
started taking down the notes his teacher had placed on the board.  
  
No matter how hard he had tried to resist, Nicky was a perfectionist when  
it came to school work. He wasn't an idiot and his brain was too quick to  
be left doing nothing. He had gotten straight A's in most of his classes  
since middle school and he didn't feel like having that change any time  
soon.  
  
His teacher put up an essay question for the class to answer. Nicky  
finished before everyone else. The essay was put to the side as he started  
scribbling inside his binder. He got restless and looked ahead of him.  
Teresa was finishing up on her conclusion. He reached in front of him and  
played with the bits of hair she missed when fixing up her braided buns. He  
felt her twinge as he withdrew his hand and sat back before she turned  
around. The look she gave him could have mirrored the same one he had given  
to Chris earlier that morning. He shrugged innocently as she turned back  
around.  
  
He didn't bother her again.  
  
The bell rang soon enough and Nicky sauntered out of class, laughing as his  
friends joked on the teacher, not noticing that Nicky had actually turned  
in not only his paper but the homework they had declared not to have done  
as well.  
  
-Later-  
  
Nicky rushed from his last class, murmuring out some lame excuse to his  
friends, too busy with themselves to notice the lie. As he walked, he took  
his wrap off his head and shoved it in his pocket as he got out the alchol  
wipes and got his signature marks off his face. He pulled his pants back up  
as he got to the front of the elementary school.  
  
Andy was looking at his book as he drew on himself on his knee in sharpie.  
He looked up as Nicky approached and smiled. "Hey Nicky!" He exclaimed as  
he put the top onto his marker and shoved it into his pocket.  
  
"Hey, Andy. What's that?" He asked curiously as the little boy closed up  
his book and put it into his backpack. Andy shrugged. "Ah, nothin. Just the  
symbol of bloodlust for the North God of war." He said simply as he got up.  
  
Nicky shook his head. He had known Andy as long as the kid had been alive  
and was used to his personality. He was actually one of the only people  
around who did get him, thus he was baby sitting him after school instead  
of Beth and Jamie, who were too busy after school to watch him anyway.  
  
Nicky was constantly pissed at everybody around him. Andrew was the  
exception. Andy was his little buddy, and around him he could do no wrong.  
Nicky couldn't explain it, but Andy was the only one he seemed to get along  
with these days. He smiled down at the little kid as he patiently listened  
to what had happened to Andy at school that day, glancing at his clock as  
he tried to remember what time he had told his friends he would show up.  
  
-Much Later (Boy, Nicky really gets around.)-  
  
Nicky rubbed his eyes as he unlocked the front door. He was too tired to  
try and climb up. He went upstairs, unsuccessful at being quiet. Before he  
knew it, Danny was in his face. He couldn't quite tell what the hell his  
Dad was going on about. He just shook his head and stumbled into his own  
room, exhausted and drunk.  
  
Both of his parents followed him. He felt his mom checking his temperature  
and such as his Dad mumbled angrily. Nicky turned to his side and tried to  
block them out. He blinked a couple of times in surprise as he could have  
sworn he saw her there sitting on his bed looking over at him pitifully. He  
closed his eyes and started mumbling for her to go away. 'Go away! Just for  
once leave my head!' He thought to himself before he passed out.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Rebel  
  
Nicky's info  
  
Age: 18 Grade: 12 Song used is /change clothes by Jay Z feat. Pharrell. 


	7. The Rebel

Eli: Hey all! Thanks for the reviews. Thelma, you mentioned before that you liked the way the twins are separated. Um, care to specify anything about that for me? (Please? Am curious to opinion.) Heh heh heh heh, Alaskantiger, you will have to wait for a future chapter.  
  
Teresa laid against the back of her bed, remote in hand as she flipped through the channels. Her music was blasting already, so she turned the volume up on the television even louder. She settled on MTV2 and tossed her remote control to the side as she picked up the bowl of cereal on her night stand. She ate as the repeat of control freak played out. When she finished her cheerios, she snuck out to the kitchen and put her bowl into the sink. She carefully took a peek at the front part of her house.  
  
"Damn it." She said to herself.  
  
Her Dad was up and typing on his computer. He never use to get up in the morning. Not until lately. He turned and looked in her direction, but she flinched back behind the wall just in time. She went back into her room and locked the door, knowing that he would come after her soon enough. She opened her window and took out her secret stash of cigarettes and lighted one up. After a few minutes of smoking, she put it out and tossed it into her trash can, covering over it with a tissue.  
  
She stripped off her monkey pajamas, not bothering to shut her window. 'Not like they have much to see, anyway.' She thought to herself as she glanced down at her own body with a wince. Teresa was tall, thin, and almost completely flat chested like a boy. She shook her head and pulled on a pair of fishnets, followed by red capris and red sneakers. She then pulled on a short jersey that cut short. She went over to her mirror and pulled her shirt down low enough to cover up her stomach. (Her dad didn't know that she had a piercing in that area.)  
  
Teresa was fixing her long dark brown hair when she heard her Dad knock on her door. She yelled that she'd be out in a minute. Her knocked again and she screamed louder, not knowing her voice wasn't carrying over her music and TV. He knocked again and she threw her brush at the door. He didn't knock again. She smirked and finished her braids. She grabbed her back pack and sun glasses and exited her room, leaving all her electronics on.  
  
Gabriel was less than amused when Teresa came into the front of the house, the part that had more store than home. He looked her up and down and shook his head. He didn't even have say anything. Teresa growled and tried to go through the front store, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the apartment. She scowled and went back into her room. He followed to make sure she didn't try to get out through the window again(Even though he had already put bars on them).  
  
She grabbed a pull over black sweater from her floor and put it on, careful not to disrupt her hair. She looked at her Dad and spread her arms. "Good enough?" She asked sarcastically.  
  
"Watch your mouth, young lady." He snapped back at her as he escorted her outside and into the car. She sat back in her seat, arms crossed the entire time. She stared out the window until they reached the school. She jumped out, ignoring any farewell remarks or orders to come home right after school.  
  
She straight to her locker and dropped off her sweatshirt and pulled her shirt up more. She checked her multiple piercings on her ears to make sure all the rings were still there. She felt someone tap her on her shoulder and turned her head and nodded. "Hey Beth."  
  
"Hey Reese. Cool shades." She said evilly. That's when Teresa noticed that her sunglasses had disappeared off of her head and onto Beth's. She shook her head as Bethany passed them back to her.  
  
"Klepto." She accused playfully as shut her locker. Two arms went around her waist from behind and lifted her up off the ground. She let out a high pitch laugh as her boyfriend for the week Eric(Or was it Erin? No matter...) turned her around and put his tongue down her throat. They were pleasantly occupied until Bethany snorted.  
  
"Get a room." She told them.  
  
Teresa ripped her head away from him and laughed. "Look whose talking, Nottingham." She turned back toward her boyfriend and flinched back. "Hey baby, what happened to your eye?"  
  
Erin(Or is it Eric?)'s eyes narrowed. "Fucking wannabe gang jumped me yesterday! I didn't do nuthin', but they wouldn't let up and when I fought back, they just took me down. But I'll get em' back." He told her. "One of the dudes looked just like your guy friend, what'shisname? The one on the football team."  
  
Bethany and Teresa glanced at each other. Beth sighed as her best friend saw red. The teen kissed her boyfriend again, moaning when the over head went off and asked to see him. (His name was Evan.) He pecked her on the lips again and took off toward the office.  
  
Teresa shook her head angrily. "That ass hole! I'm gonna fuckin' jump him myself." She ranted to Beth as they headed toward their first class.  
  
"Reese, you don't know if it was actually him or if your boy for the week was just talking. Your boyfriends hate all your guy friends, from Dom to Chris to even my little brother. Back off Nick." She reasoned as they turned the corner. Teresa didn't reply.  
  
"And you should, Teresa. Wait til I tell you guys." Gracie added as she came up behind them. Beth and Teresa both fake coughed. *Cough*cheerleader*Cough* They joked. She was a year younger than them and they picked on her like she was their sibling. Gracie rolled her eyes. she was use to it. "Whatever. Anyway, you guys won't believe it." She said excitedly.  
  
They waited for her to continue but she didn't. "And?" Teresa asked. Gracie shook her head. "Nicky came home last night hella late and woke up the entire house. You know how he is suppose to be on probation with Uncle Danny and stuff. And to top it all off, he came home drunk. He passed out on his bed! Uncle Danny flipped out and Aunt Lee started crying! God, it was a blood bath! Chris only got an hour sleep cause of it." She told them informingly.  
  
"Since when does Nicky drink?" Beth asked, confused. This wasn't the kid she or Gracie or Teresa were friends with. Gracie shrugged. "Don't know, but Uncle Danny is furious. He almost ran over an old woman when he dropped me and Chris off at school. Wouldn't let Nicky go. I swear, I think Uncle Danny is this close to turning him in for under age drinking. If it weren't for Aunt Lee..." Gracie shook her head.  
  
They were all quiet for a moment. Then the bell ran. They said good bye to Gracie and started for their next class.  
  
-Later-  
  
"JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!!!!" Teresa screamed at the tops of her lungs before she slammed her door shut, locking both of her locks. She had gotten another Friday school for cutting class, and her Dad was less than pleased. And finding marks on her neck as to show what she had cut class to do didn't help. She tried to explain how she didn't need the class and how she would pass it anyway and how she was so desperately in love with Eric, er, Evan. She growled again.  
  
Her dad had no idea what she went through everyday!  
  
She threw her pillows off the bed, along with her goth teddy bear. She began throwing everything in her way. She tossed her lamp, her covers, her chair, her back pack and books. she picked up a picture frame off her night stand and went to throw it and stopped. It was a picture of her mom, eternally young and pretty. Teresa put it back down on her night stand and cooled off.  
  
She went over to her mirror and put her head down for a while at her dresser. When she opened her eyes again, her room was dark and bleak. She turned on her other lamp and looked at her reflection and shook her head. 'All this damn sulking ruined my make up.' She fixed her eyes liner and reapplied her lipstick just in time to hear a whistle by her window.  
  
Teresa grinned and opened it up. She took out her screw driver and undid three of the bars to her window quickly. she turned off her light and climbed out her window and into her boyfriend's arms. She licked his bottom lip and smirked. "Let's have some fun..."  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Quiet One  
  
Teresa's info-  
  
Age: 16 Grade: 11 


	8. The Quiet One

Eli: Hey everyone! Don't hate on Gabe, because if raising a kid isn't hard enough, he has to raise a child of the opposite sex all by himself, and that's hard. Though, he does need to think up a new form of punishment. Thanks for all the reviews! Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!  
  
Everything was so quiet. He sat on his bed silently, legs crossed underneath him. He hadn't moved a muscle for a long time now. The teen was calm and centered, in rhythm with his breathing and everything else around him. Eyes closed, he reached over to his side and clamped down on his alarm right after it went off. He was up with the sun and he only kept his alarm clock to make his father think he slept more than he did. Due to his training from when he was little, he only needed a couple of hours rest to be good to go.  
  
Dominic was already fully dressed and ready for the day. He had on black combat boots with dark black jeans and a white t-shirt. His white blonde(It was more blonde than white now) hair was brushed down around his head and he was all washed and clean. He stretched himself out before he got off his bed and out of his room. He knocked on his father's door as he walked down the hall into the kitchen.  
  
He switched on the lights and started getting things out of the fridge. A year before Lily moved out, she had taught him how to cook and had left behind a couple of cook books for him to follow. He learned to kinda like cooking and after a bit of trial and error over the years, he wasn't half bad.  
  
It was almost seven when his father got out of his bed room and came into the kitchen. Dom greeted him and handed him coffee as he got the plates of food together. He gave his father a plate as he placed his plate down across from him and went to go get a drink.  
  
Half way through breakfast, Stefen looked away from his book and glanced at his son. "Wie machen Sie heute?" *How are you doing today* He asked.  
  
Dom looked over at him and shrugged. "Geldstrafe, Herr." *Fine sir* He mumbled out slowly as he continued to eat. His first language was English and he had trouble with German, even though that is what his Father spoke in when he didn't need to speak English. He only spoke it for his Father's convenience.  
  
"Wann werden Sie Heim heute sein?" *When will you be home today?*  
  
"Nicht bis spät. Ich muß eine Wissenschaft Prüfung wiedernehmen und dann muß ich zu Ausbildung und Arbeit gehen. Lilie hat gesagt, daß sie über nach der Arbeit wäre, zu besuchen." *Not till late. I have to retake a science test and then I have to go to training and work. Lily said she would be over after work to visit.* Dominic told him as he finished eating and put his plate in the sink. He grabbed his back pack and jacket off the side of the table. "Erinnern Sie sich, an Ihre Pillen, zu nehmen, Nachdem an neun, und nachdem an.." *Remember to take your pills, Once at nine, and once at...*  
  
"Vier, ich wissen." *At four, I know.* Dominic smirked and nodded. "Bye, Dominic hat, einen guten Tag." *Bye, Dominic, have a good day.* Stefen told him warmly as Dominic scratched at the markings at his wrists. His son nodded. "Gut bye, Dad." *Good bye, Dad* He called out as he left the house.  
  
-Later-  
  
Dominic kept to himself as the rest of his English class paired off for group work. He did better on his own, and thankfully, his teacher respected his decision to work alone on even the hardest assignments. He went through his English book and read the short story to himself. Afterwards, he answered the essay questions and handed them to his teacher.  
  
With a little less than an hour left of class, Dominic took out his note book and started drawing. He made an outline of a girl dressed in dark clothing in mid crescent kick. He was just about to darken the lines so that he could start on detail when he felt people looking over his shoulder. He turned his head to find three of his female class mates trying to get a glimpse of what he was drawing. The girl closest to him, Tiffany, smiled at him. "Watcha drawin'?" She asked casually.  
  
He shrugged. "Nothing much. You finish the story?" He asked stoically. When she didn't say anything, he went on. "Interesting wasn't it?"  
  
The girls nodded. "Uh, yeah. Hey, I think we missed a question." They turned away from him and went back to their desks. He turned back to his picture and put his head phones on to drown everyone else out. He drew out her face and body. He was about to draw out the guy she was kicking as well when the teacher stopped the class to read the story outloud. Dom turned his head phones out and followed along in his book like the rest of the class. He scowled when he had to read. His voice was calm, steady, and just loud enough for the class to hear(Lily and Stefen had made him read out loud alot. Something about to improve social skills or what not). He ignored the looks of bliss some of the girls got from listening to him. He was all too relieved when his turn was over.  
  
He closed his book and out his head down until the bell rang.  
  
-Later-  
  
Dominic leaned against the wall to the library as he listened to Jamie tell him all about his science experiment. He hated science with a passion and tried to stay interested with what his younger buddy was telling him, though it was hard. 'I wish Jamie wasn't so genius boy extraordinaire. We really ought to get him a girl or something. He's fourteen, he's old enough. God, James, please be done soon before I strangle you.' He thought to himself as a water bottle came flying toward his head.  
  
Dominic rolled his eyes as he caught it with his left hand and threw it right back at its owner. Beth laughed as she sat down next to him. "Hey Dom." She said with a nod before she turned to Jamie. "Hello my adorable baby brother ohlookheissocute!!" She said in a high pitch voice as she messed up Jamie's hair.  
  
"Beth, back off!" He complained as he hit her with his bag lunch. She glared at him as she munched on her chips. Dominic stole glances at her. God, he was so much in love with her. Yet, she couldn't be anymore oblivious to the fact. He couldn't believe how such a smart girl could be so dumb when it came to this subject.  
  
Bethany tossed her lunch into a near by trash can. "See ya guys." She told them as she picked up her backpack and went up to some guy and started chatting, strike that, FLIRTING with him.  
  
Dominic saw red as his eyes narrowed. "Whose that?" He asked Jamie coldly. The freshman shrugged. "Some guy she met the other day. I think his name is Darren." He said through bites of his sandwich. Dominic's eyes followed Beth until she was out of sight. Jamie smirked. "Geez, Dom, chill out. He's not gonna marry her."  
  
Dominic didn't reply. 'Damn right he's not gonna marry her. That's MY job, weather or not Beth acknowledges it.' He thought to himself before he threw his lunch away and went to his locker.  
  
-Later-  
  
A very sore Dominic came home from work and sat down at the kitchen table. He was a martial arts instructor at a place near his house. Both he and Beth taught there. She took on older students as he took on the children's classes. He didn't mind kids. Okay, truth is he adored kids. He was an only child and it kinda made up for not having any other siblings. But today the usual angels had turned into devils when he had gotten out the pads to practice with. Before he had a chance to react, he was getting dog piled by dozen or so seven/eight/nine year olds.  
  
Lily smiled as her 'little'(The kid was a bit past six feet and taller than her, and all that working out had paid out as he had finally filled out, though he was still a bit on the thin side) cousin collapsed into his seat. She gave him food and he demolished it. She laughed as he got second helpings. "Hungry much?"  
  
"You have no idea." He told her as Lily's daughter ran up to him. "Dominic! Dominic!" She said happily as she climbed up onto his lap. Abigail was two now and he absolutely adored her. She had dark brown hair that curled at the ends and brown almond shaped eyes exactly like her Daddy's. She told him about her trip to the zoo as he finished his dinner. Lily had her go watch TV as she took the seat opposite of her cousin.  
  
"And how are you?" She asked him. He did the same thing he did when his father asked, except in English. She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and now how are you really?"  
  
He rubbed his head. "I'm tired."  
  
"You're still waking up at dawn, aren't you?" He winced. "Dominic Ryan Carver, what have we told you? What did the doctor tell you? You need that sleep. You're running on no energy. Look at you, I can count every one of your ribs. You need to sleep for more than three hours a day. With all the stuff you do, your body can't take it." She scolded as she took his plate away to clean. She got anal compulsive when she was upset.  
  
He shook his head as he got up and took the dish away form her. "I'll do it. You should get home before it's Abbey's bed time." He told her quietly.  
  
"Dom..." She started.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I just have alot to do. It IS my senior year and all. I promise I'll be better. Alright, Lily?"  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"I'm sure." He lied. He said good bye to his cousins and locked the door behind them. For the next hour or two he did all the housework until he could barely move. Only then did he stop and get ready for bed. He glanced at his clock. It blinked One AM. He put got under his covers and started falling asleep. He rubbed his witchblade marking on this wrist with his thumb. 'Please no dreams, mi'lady.' He begged before he was knocked out.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
The Baby  
  
Dominic's info-  
  
Age: 17 Grade: 12 


	9. The Baby

Eli: Hey everyone thanks for the reviews! The last chapter of introductions! And now, I introduce the latest character that we haven't really heard about, Andrew John Nottingham. Enjoy!  
  
Sara walked by the rooms in the hallway one by one. None of her kids were good at getting out of bed at time. After yelling for Bethany to get up through the teen's music and damn near had to throw water on Jamie to get him up, she stood at the end of the hall rapping on her last child's door. She could hear his alarm going off like crazy, it's 'Morning, earthling' going on and on and on.  
  
"Andy, get up!" She yelled at him. No reply. "Now, Andrew!" She knocked on the door again and heard the alarm clock get shut off. She nodded and went into the kitchen for breakfast.  
  
Half an hour later, the sixteen year old and the fourteen year old were at the table, but the eight year old was still missing. Sara went back over to his room and pounded on the door. "Andrew, are you still in there?"  
  
"Nothin' in here but the FBI's most unwanted." Was his reply. She heard him laugh and shook her head. "Andrew, stop watching your X-Files DVD's and go eat breakfast."  
  
"But Mom......."  
  
She cut him off. "Don't make me go in there and drag you out." She warned him. She heard his TV shut off as he trudged toward the door and opened it. He walked out into the hallway as Sara then practically marched him into the kitchen. He sat down next to Jamie and started eating his toast. He then downed his glass of orange juice. He took another bite out of his toast. "Ey ad, an ou ples pass the ornge uice." He murmured through is food.  
  
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Ian told him as he passed him the carton of orange juice. Andy took it from him and swallowed with a huge gulp. "Thank you." He said politely as he poured himself another glassful. His Dad looked him over curiously.  
  
"Andrew, didn't you wear that shirt yesterday?" He asked.  
  
The boy shook his head. "No. You see, the shirt I wore yesterday said 'Your Lord and Master, Foamy'." He informed him as he held up a chunk of his black shirt. "This shirt says 'Beware my squirrely wrath!'."  
  
His parents traded looks with each other before his Father nodded. "Oh, okay." Andy looked back down at his food, not noticing his parents mouthing out denials that he took after the other one. Beth and Jamie watched on amused. No one was actually sure who Andy took after as far as personality wise, but for looks, whoa! Andy looked so much like his Daddy that it was startling. They had once compared him to a picture they had of Ian when he was little and the resemblance was almost down to detail.  
  
When Andy was done eating, he put his plate into the sink and picked up his metallic red back pack that had a picture of a phoenix on it. "Mom, may I please have money for lunch?" He asked her cutely as he looked up at her. She grinned and got money out of her pocket for him. Jamie scowled as he picked up his back pack. "And can your other children have money, too?" He asked.  
  
Sara laughed. "Your sister has her own money from her job, and you already made your lunch." She replied. Jamie shrugged. "I'm a growing boy." He told her. She shook her head and hugged him. "Have a nice day at school." She told him before she went to frisk her eldest for weapons.  
  
Andy laughed as Jamie glared down at him. Andy stuck out his tongue and then ran out the door toward the car. Jamie chased after him. Ian unlocked the car door just as Andrew flew by him and started hiding behind him from Jamie. "Dad!!" Andy complained as Jamie chased him in circles around him.  
  
"James, leave him alone." He ordered. Jamie stopped running and nodded. 'Spoiled brat. Baby of the family gets everything.' He thought to himself. Ian opened the door for them and Andy got in. Jamie got in the front seat and shut the door before Bethany walked up to the car. She slid in next to Andy.  
  
Bethany put her backpack in between them as she played around with her MP3. Andy eyed the pockets, wondering if any of them had a weapon. He looked over at Beth and then back at her bag as he quietly opened up one of the zippers. He went to put his hand in when a hand with short but sharp black nails grabbed his wrists. He looked up at his sister to see her shaking her head. "Do it and Bastet will have your CSI DVD's as her new scratch toys." She told him before she let go of his arm. Andy scooted closer to his side of the seat.  
  
He stared out the window, watching everything with interest. When they stopped for a red light, he saw a man in black jeans and a red shirt looking right at him. The man nodded at him and he nodded back, ignoring the gun wound shots the guy had at his temple and the blood dripping down out of them. He blinked a few more times and the man had disappeared. Andy smiled as the car started up again.  
  
They soon reached Andy's school. As soon as the doors unlocked, Andy flew out of the car, not forgetting to say good bye to his Dad before he closed the door. He heard the early bell ring as he stepped onto the play ground. Kids started heading toward their classes. Andy started toward his class when a glimpse of a woman behind him stopped him. He turned around and smiled.  
  
"Hi Grandma Lizzie." He said brightly to the apparition. She smiled down at him. "Hello, Andrew." She said sweetly as she studied the little boy. He could see her cringe when she read his shirt. He giggled. She shook her head. "I rather not know." She told him. "Pat your hair down, get rid of the crumbs by your mouth, and you're all set for the day. I will see you later." She told him. He did as she told him and when he looked back at her, she was gone. He shrugged and started toward his class before he was late.  
  
-Later-  
  
As the rest of his third grade class played with the toys in there class, Andy was hooked up to the internet through the class computers. With a few tricks he learned from Teresa, he was able to get pass the school blocks to get into his web sights about some of his more unlawful subjects. He was just reading up on the FBI's 10 most wanted when his teacher, Mr. Sullivan, came up behind him.  
  
"And what would you be doing, Andrew?" He asked.  
  
Andrew changed screens and turned around. "Just reading about sharks." He said innocently. "Did you know that they can smell blood from over a mile away?" He asked, pretending to be excited over that little fact. He couldn't tell if his teacher was buying it or not yet. Mr. Sullivan always wore black sunglasses that hid his eyes. After a moment of silence, his teacher nodded and walked away. Andy turned back to the computer.  
  
He had only been in this class for a little over a month and a half, but he was sure there was something off about his teacher. He was too quiet and detached to be a REAL elementary school teacher. Currently, Andrew suspected him to be a spy from Belgium that was collecting facts about American children to sell to the Japanese when they made their next anime cartoon so that they could use the cartoon to brainwash all the children and put them under their control to dominate the world.  
  
Well, that or he was just a really weird guy.  
  
Either way, Andy was going to find out.  
  
He was on for another ten minutes when his teacher had the kids clean up and take out their homework. He had assigned them to write one paragraph on a subject. Mr. Sullivan took notes as the children each went up and read their paragraphs out loud. Most were about their pets or a cartoon. Andrew got up when Mr. Sullivan called his name. He walked to the front of the class. He tried to shake as he pulled out his paper. He looked up at his classmates, and then beyond them. On the back wall, he could see Grandma Lizzie sitting back like a proper lady as she waited to hear him. He smiled and started.  
  
"My paragraph is about Jack the Ripper. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, there was a killer that went around killing prostitutes in England that they called Jack the Ripper. They called him Jack the Ripper because-" His teacher coughed loudly and interrupted.  
  
"Andrew, I think that is enough. Just hand in your paper." He told him. Andrew shrugged and gave his paper to the teacher's aid. The young girl looked over his paper and turned pale as she went over to the garbage can and lost her lunch. As the rest of the children watched the teacher help her to the first aid, Lizzie looked at him curiously. He shrugged. "I only added a picture at the bottom." He stated quietly. He saw her grin sadly and shake her head before she faded into the sunlight and was gone again.  
  
-Later-  
  
Andrew sat down in the corner of his Mom's office angrily. His arms were cross over his chest and he was frowning. He didn't say anything when Danny had said bye to him went he left for lunch. He stayed angry until his mom came back in into the office and shut the door. She sat back on the front of her desk. He didn't say anything to her. She looked him over. "Talk to me, Andy." She told him. He looked away from her and remained silent. "C'mon, baby. I know you didn't start the fight. You didn't hurt anyone. No one is mad at you. Just tell me what's wrong. What happened?" She asked his quietly.  
  
He looked down and she heard him mumble something. She came closer and listened. "Repeat that."  
  
"They called me schizo again!" He said angrily. Sara sighed and pulled him to her. Andy rested his head on her shoulder and tried not to cry. She stroked his back soothingly.  
  
"Andy, you know you're not schizophrenic. You know you're not crazy. It's just...... Your gift. I know you try and that you forget. I didn't mean for you to inherit anything, but you did. I know it's hard, no one understand how hard it is better than me, but you have to do your best. That's the only way to get through this. Okay?"  
  
"Okay." He murmured out. Sara flattened his hair out. "I gotta go meet Uncle Danny somewhere. Bethany will pick you up after she gets off work." She told him as she picked up her jacket.  
  
"Can I go downstairs and stay with Auntie Vicky?" He asked hopefully. Sara shook her head. "She's not there. And Eric is still upset about the last time you went down to the morgue."  
  
"I only played with the bones a little. I didn't know they were evidence." He argued. "Can I go on the computer?" He asked. She sighed. "Homework first." She told him seriously. She flashed him the witchblade and grinned. "And don't lie cause I'll know."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He said as he pulled out his notebook and started on his math sheet. Sara kissed the top of his head and left her office, closing it securely behind her.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
Another Saturday Morning  
  
Andy's info  
  
Age: 8 Grade 3 There, updated info about every kid. 


	10. Another Saturday Morning

Eli: Thanks for all the reviews! It was nice to read something other than an algebra 2 book during finals week. Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!  
  
It was still very early. Andy peeked his head out of his room. The coast was clear! He quietly made his way down hall, avoiding all the squeaky spots. The stairs were harder to maneuver. He couldn't step on the stairs that would creak, but he couldn't jump over them either. He grabbed hold of the railing and hoisted himself up. He prayed a quiet prayer that he wouldn't slip off and break his leg again, and then he slid down the banister. Andrew stopped himself before he hit the bottom and slowly lowered himself down onto the carpet. He smiled, proud of his stealth, before he went into the Living room to watch Saturday Morning cartoons.  
  
It seemed to be a lot all for the sake of cartoons, but he knew how much his parents liked to sleep in a bit on Saturday. He plopped down onto the couch and checked the clock. 6:00 AM exactly. "Time for X-Files: The animated series!" He said in a whisper. He turned the TV on and the X-Files animated series theme song blasted through out the house. He flinched back from the noise and quickly turned it down, but it was too late.  
  
Upstairs, a very tired police detective jolted awake, knocking over her alarm clock as she did. The stupid piece of machinery set off the alarm as it hit the ground. Sara groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, trying to think happy thoughts as she ignored the clocks beeping. After two minutes of the consistent annoying noise, she bent over the side of the bed and picked the thing up and put it back on her night stand before she hit the off button. The beeping didn't stop. She hit the button again and again and again until finally the witchblade warmed up and went into its silver fist mode and she punched down on it. The clock flew into pieces as she lay back down.  
  
Sleeping was now officially a lost cause. She could hear Jamie yelling at Bethany for stealing the bathroom. Beth had brought her radio into the bathroom and now her music was being blasted toward them. And Andy had turned up the volume of the TV to drown out all the racket. She hissed and dug her face into her husband's chest. She hissed even more when he pulled away and got up. She sat up and leaned against the head board, frustrated. "That's it! Every Friday night, I'm gonna tie them up and gag them in the garage, so maybe I can get some sleep around here." She announced.  
  
Ian smirked and laughed at her. "That would be illegal."  
  
She shrugged. "I don't care! I want sleep! Can you remember the last time we ever got to sleep in on a weekend we were both off?" She asked.  
  
"The day after the twin's birthday sleep over two years ago." He answered. She groaned and tried to go back to sleep. He walked down the hall to where Jamie was complaining loudly. Ian gripped his shoulder hard. Jamie winced and looked over his shoulder.  
  
"Mom's off today?" He asked. His Father nodded. Jamie nodded too before he slinked back into his room. Next, Ian pounded on the bathroom door, but Bethany apparently couldn't hear him. He picked the lock and reached into the bathroom and flushed the toilet. Bethany shrieked from inside the shower and turned down her radio. "Music off or face your mother." He told her before he shut the door.  
  
Lastly, he went downstairs to tell Andrew to turn down the TV. He glanced into the Living room and found no one to be in it. He shook his head. He didn't know how Andy had picked up Bethany's 'attacking Daddy before breakfast' habit, but he had. He heard something squirm from behind the TV, and knew what was coming. He took a step into the Living room and stayed perfectly grounded as Andy came out and tried to do the sweep kick thing he had seen on Mortal Kombat.  
  
"Owww!" Andy groaned as he rubbed his ankle. His Dad hadn't gone down, and he had been the one hurt. And his Dad laughing at him wasn't making it any better. "Stop laughing." He complained.  
  
"Next time, execute a move you know, not one you're copying from a video game." He told him. "Now turn down the sound." Andy grumbled, but did what he was told.  
  
-Later-  
  
Bethany looked down at her bowl of cereal and sighed. She remembered Saturday mornings with good breakfasts and talking and sitting at the table in their old apartment. Not that she complained that they lived in a house now, especially since she got her own room that had a little balcony on it. But she missed when things were more family like. Nowadays, baby sitting her baby brother that saw dead people better than she could in between school and her job as her Mom used the witchblade to solve crimes and her Dad went out doing his job that they could never talk about, all while her other younger brother was blowing chemicals up in his room for his science class that was higher than hers was as normal as it got.  
  
And that was on a good day.  
  
She ate one last bite of her soggy cereal before she dumped it into the sink. The door bell rang and as she went to go get it. She knew who it was and wanted to flee her house before it blew up in her face. Too late! Andrew had rushed to the door and was smirking.  
  
"Give me five dollars and I'll open the door." He told the visitor.  
  
"What? No way! Kid, just go get your sister, alright?"  
  
Andrew smirked even wider. "You really should give me five dollars." He told the visitor.  
  
"No! I'm not giving you five dollars!"  
  
"Alright then......" He said wistfully. He shook his head and glanced at Bethany. "He's not a smart one."  
  
Her eyes widened as she started fumbling through her pockets. Damn, she had left her wallet in her work out pants. "Andy, if you even think of calling for-"  
  
"DAD!!! THERE'S ABOY AT THE DOOR FOR BETHANY!!!" He yelled out.  
  
Bethany scowled at him, but hid it as soon as her father appeared in the hallway. Andrew stepped back as Ian opened the door and stepped outside. As the door shut behind him, Beth turned to Andy. "You're dead!!!" She told him as she chased him out of the hallway, into the kitchen, into the Living room where Andy ran straight for Sara and hid behind the chair she was sitting in. "Mommy, Beth's trying to kill me again." He complained.  
  
Sara rubbed her head in annoyance. "Bethany Marie, what have I told you?" She asked.  
  
Beth sighed. "No torturing, mutilating, setting fire to, throwing knives at, or giving injuries of any kind to your brothers." She said dryly.  
  
"Good girl." Sara said approvingly. Andy stuck his tongue out at Bethany until he saw Lizzie shaking her head at him, and he stopped.  
  
Bethany remembered her date and went back into the hallway just as her Dad came back in. Bethany went pass him and opened the door to reveal no one there. Her lips flattened out into an angry line. "Daddy." She said calmly. "Where's the guy that came by to pick me up?"  
  
Ian shrugged. "It seems he had another appointment and is very sorry he had to leave on such short notice." He said innocently.  
  
Bethany was ready to explode, and did. "MOTHER!!!!!" She called out. "He did it AGAIN!!" She yelled out as she went back into the Living room.  
  
"Now, Bethany......." He tried to talk, but she cut him off with more yelling as she started ranting to her Mom.  
  
"Mother, your husband scared my date away again! That's the second time this week alone! And it's not even late or anything! You said I'm allowed to date, but he won't let me! Please make him get it!" She said as she sat down on the couch.  
  
Sara looked at Bethany and rubbed her shoulder. She stood up and pulled Ian into the next. "Will you lighten up? It was just a date! They were going to go see an action flick for Christ's sake! You know she can't take her eyes off action movies! And it's the matinee showing. If they made out, old ladies in purple hats would make fun of them." She rationalized. "You need to calm down." She told him.  
  
He was about to say something in protest when the door bell rang. They answered the door and Gabriel led Teresa in, both hands firmly on her shoulders. "Hey guys, sorry to interrupt the arguing I could hear a block away, but could Teresa stay here for the day?" He asked.  
  
Sara nodded. "Yeah, but don't you think 16 is a bit old for the need for a baby sitter?" She asked questionably.  
  
"You're telling me." Teresa murmured.  
  
"Someone broke the bars of her window off and snuck out until three in the morning." He informed them. "So yes, I think she still needs a baby sitter. She's on total house arrest until...... Well, right now it looks like forever." He said seriously.  
  
Teresa pulled away from him and went into the Living room to sit with Beth. He looked at her and shook his head. "I don't know what it is. I don't know what the hell I should do! Scolding doesn't work, manual labor doesn't work, grounding sure as hell doesn't work, and even trying to lock her in the house doesn't work. I'm ready to call Maury up to send her to boot camp." He told Sara exasperated. "She was so good last year. I don't know what happened to her." He turned from the girls. "Has Beth mentioned anything at all about Teresa that could be causing this? Something at school, something at home?" He asked.  
  
Sara could only shake her head. "She hasn't mentioned anything, but I think she must know something. But you know her. She's not gonna say a word unless she has Teresa's okay." She glanced at the girls. "Maybe Gracie will spill. Vick's coming over, I'll ask for you."  
  
He nodded. "Thanks chief. See you later." He turned to leave. Before he did he turned to Ian and pointed. "Teenage boy on the corner crying as he is talking on cell phone. Your work?" Ian didn't say a word, but a shadow of smile was on his face. Gabriel nodded. "I thought so. Good job!" He congratulated.  
  
"Don't encourage him." Sara scolded.  
  
He laughed. "Yeah, bad protector! Bad!" He shook his head. "See ya, guys." He went to close the door behind him, but someone else came and opened the door back up. He nodded to her as he left. Vicki smiled brightly as she came into their house.  
  
"Good afternoon. We all just got back from the game. Dragons totally kicked the other teams butt. It wasn't a game, it was a slaughtering." She informed them as Gracie and Chris came into the house as well.  
  
"Hi Uncle Ian, hi Aunt Sara." They both said. Chris still had his jersey on and was carrying a black sports bag with him. Gracie was still in her cheerleading uniform, but she had put on some grey sweat pants underneath, not bothering to remove her skirt. The teen went on to join the other teens in the Living room.  
  
Andy saw Chris and ran up to him excitedly. "Where's Nicky? Where's Nicky?" He asked him as he pulled on his jersey.  
  
"And hello to you to." Chris said sarcastically. "Nicky is still grounded and had to stay at home. He says he's sorry that you guys can't go to Dave and....... Um, whatever it's called."  
  
"Dave and Buster's." He said sadly as he sat down on the other couch. "I've been saving up all my tickets so that I could get the blow up alien. We were gonna win the last fifty and get it today."  
  
Chris rubbed his hair. "Sorry buddy."  
  
Meanwhile, after Sara and Ian 'discussed' (Meaning its pretty much Sara yelling.) Bethany's dating; Vicki pulled Sara to the side with a grin. "Guess what?"  
  
"Um, world peace has arrived and put me out of a job?"  
  
Vicki rolled her eyes. She looked around to make sure no one paying attention to them and took off her gloves with the school's mascot on it. "Look."  
  
Sara's jaw dropped. "You're kidding!" She exclaimed, louder than she had meant to. Vicki told her to shh and nodded her head. "When are you and Joey going to.......?"  
  
"Not sure yet, but I'll let you know." She looked around once more to make sure no one was listening in. "Don't say anything to anyone else, especially Gracie because she has to go see Jake tomorrow and if she knows, she'll tell him. And I don't want to risk jealous ex-husband rage."  
  
"But he's with Serena, isn't he?" Sara asked.  
  
Vicki hissed. "I know, I know, but remember what happened when he found out that Joey was moving in?"  
  
"Right, right. Not a word. You gonna tell anyone else?"  
  
"No! I don't care if Lee kills me afterward, it is staying a secret."  
  
"Oh God, another wedding for her to help out with." They both groaned at the thought. "Well, at least she doesn't know for now. You're lucky she isn't here or else she would have sneaked her way over to listen in."  
  
"Yeah, thank God she has a two grandsons and a granddaughter to keep her occupied along with her other kids." Vicki glanced at Gracie. "At least I won't be a grandma for a while. Don't think I could handle being that old."  
  
Sara shrugged. "It's not old, just older." She explained.  
  
"Yeah yeah yeah." Vicki muttered as Beth and Teresa went into the hallway and started going up stairs.  
  
"Hi Aunt Vicki."  
  
"Yeah, hi Aunt Vicki." They said solemnly.  
  
"Aren't you two just full of cheer today?" She told them sarcastically. They didn't answer and just continued up to the second floor. She turned back to Sara. "What's with them?"  
  
"Bethany's date was scared off and Teresa's on house arrest." She answered.  
  
Vicki laughed. "I knew that kid on the corner was crying. As I said before, she's gonna end up a nun. And Teresa....... That's another story." She shook her head. "If only Angel was here to set her girl straight...." She trailed off.  
  
"I know." Sara agreed. "If only."  
  
-Meanwhile-  
  
"He gets into all my business! I have no time alone because he is always watching! I'm sick of being treated like a fucking five year old!" Teresa ranted as she collapsed onto Bethany's bed. "I can't stand home right now." She murmured.  
  
Bethany patted her back. "Hey, don't worry. It'll all work out." She bit her lip. "But you know, it would help if you didn't sneak off at night all the time and just went to class, and just tried to stay out of trouble instead of going looking for it." She added cautiously, trying not to sound like their parents.  
  
Teresa didn't answer. There was silence in Bethany's room until someone suddenly touched her shoulder. She flinched back as Dominic smirked.  
  
"Got ya." He said playfully, smile across his face. Good Lord, it was enough to make medusa melt.  
  
Beth hit him with her pillow. "I hate it when you do that." She complained, not really meaning it.  
  
"Sorry. So, what are you guys talking about?" He asked casually as he stood as close to Bethany as he could without being obvious.  
  
"Teen angst, teen angst, and more teen angst." Teresa said with a sigh. "I'm on house arrest and Bethany's date was scared off by Uncle Ian...... Again." She informed him.  
  
"Ahhh." He murmured as the thought of Ian killing that guy that he had seen Beth flirting with flashed through his head. He tried not to smile too much. They WERE talking about teen angst.  
  
Teresa turned onto her stomach and hugged Bethany's blankets. "Dominic you are so lucky you have a cool Dad. Steffen doesn't get on your case."  
  
He shrugged. "It's hard for a man of his age to get on anything. I'm not sure that's really lucky." He said, purposely being vague. He doubted if anyone knew just how badly his father's health was beginning to become. His Father said nothing about it, and Dominic never said anything about it. Dom just hoped the silence wouldn't get his Dad in the hospital.  
  
The eye of the blade twitched on Bethany's chest. She knew Dominic was hiding something. She reached out to console him a bit, but drew her hand back. 'No touching. That leads to more touching. No leading him on. None of that.' She scolded herself. The eye of the witchblade burned her and she leapt off the bed. She covered her action by looking out the window.  
  
"I still see Aaron! I'm gonna go down real quick and just make sure he's not suing or in need of therapy like Rick did." She told them as she went out onto her balcony and jumped down. Dominic watched her intently before he looked farther and glared at Aaron.  
  
The bed squeaked a little as Teresa pulled herself up to a sitting position. "Ya know, Beth wouldn't be out there right now if you would just tell her the truth." She said quietly.  
  
He didn't even glance at her. "She doesn't want to hear it."  
  
"Oh sure she does. Every girl dreams of having a boy tell her that he's been in love with her since the third grade." She got up and leaned toward him. "Even Bethany Nottingham." She stretched and went to the door. "Tell Wonder woman that I went downstairs to get some food."  
  
Dominic nodded, just slightly. Teresa shook her head. 'They better get together soon! I ain't loosing twenty bucks to Gracie over this.' She thought to herself as Jamie ran out of his room and leaned over the railing.  
  
"Hey, did anyone take the nitro glycerin?" He asked.  
  
BOOM!!  
  
Smoke filled up the house as everyone tried to get clear of the smoke. Andrew walked out of the kitchen, his hair all out of place and his clothes soiled. They watched as he glared at the wall and pointed at it. "See! I told you, Jeanne! It's not the recipe for cookies!" He scolded at the apparition hotly before he started going up the stairs to change his clothes.  
  
Sara and Ian looked at each other in disbelief. She shook her head. "That child does NOT take after me! That's all your genes, buddy!" She told him before she went into the kitchen to inspect the damage.  
  
"No, it's all you Sara. I never did anything like that as a child. He got that from YOU!" He argued back before he went up stairs to talk to Andrew and how he wasn't suppose to take advice form Joan of Arc.  
  
Vicki chuckled from her seat as she secretly admired her engagement ring. Gracie and Chris went to the kitchen to see hoe much damage the baby had caused. And Teresa just shook her head and went back upstairs, thinking how the food could wait.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
Not Big Enough For the Two of Us 


	11. Not Big Enough For the Both of Us

Eli: Thanks for all the reviews! I'm lovin' it! 1:38 AM with nothing to do. And now, to keep some of you Beth/Dom shippers at bay for a while...... Enjoy!  
  
"And one, two, three, four, five! And one, two, three, four, five!" Dominic called out. Ten little kids did their best to make their punches as straight as possible. He bent down and adjusted one or two of their punches. Then he had them do it over again. Perfect!  
  
They were a great little bunch. They were his second class of the day and the most fun. His first class usually came straight from doing homework and were grumpy and still tired from school, and his third class were full from dinner and drained for the day. This class was lively and energetic and not too big. He still wasn't a people person, but kids he could deal with. He didn't know how Bethany could stand the pre-teens and teenagers.  
  
The only part he didn't like too much was having Andy in his class. It wasn't that he didn't love the kid. Everyone did! It was just that...... Well, he was Andy and that was the only way he could explain it. The other kids didn't care for him too much since he had been and was still being trained by his Father, though his training was no where near as bad as theirs had been. It didn't need to be.  
  
Cause a boy couldn't wield the witchblade.  
  
That's why Jamie had gotten out of learning to fight. He was normal and that's how he wanted to be. Andy only learned because he had been dying to learn it. It was Beth who suggested Andy take Dom's class along with regular training to make it easier on picking him up after school. Since it was Dom teaching, it didn't take much convincing. He had seemed passive in the whole thing but it made him proud to think that he was trusted enough by her parents to train their kid.  
  
He had his class doing exercises for another fifteen minutes before he had them start practicing their tumbling. He had hated that stuff, but they loved it. He didn't know why they did. Or why they all seemed to hum some strange theme song he didn't know of.  
  
He took his eyes off of them for one second to glance at the other class. Beth had them working on strength. God she looked awesome. Slightly messy, demanding, teaching, fighting. This was her in her element.  
  
He was dragged away from her when someone pulled on his tank top. He looked down at Andy. "Grandma Lizzie says to stop looking at her granddaughter that way cause she is too young." He said seriously. The little boy winced. "Now you made her go into her 'back in my day' talk!" He complained. Dominic told him to go to practicing. Andy nodded and headed off, but then turned back around. "Oh, and Jeanne says to keep that thing in your pants."  
  
The casual comment form a kid who didn't understand the meaning almost made him blush. He looked back at his class, but he could still hear her voice barking out orders. Could still pick up her scent from across the room. He loved his job, but it got tough being so close and yet so far all the time, especially when they combined classes every once in a while.  
  
He shook his head. 'This place ain't big enough for the both of us'.  
  
-Later-  
  
Beth and Dom were putting away all the extra body pads for sparing. They had promised Tommy they would lock up for him in exchange for some training time. Class had stopped early due to a very over dramatic mother who had cause a riot since her kid had gotten knocked to the ground during practice fighting. She ran in, high heels screwing up their nice mats and started trying to cradle him with all his pads on and turned to Bethany to cuss her out, saying she shouldn't put her baby up against someone so big. The poor thirteen year old kid was mortified as the other kids snickered, and it had taken alot of Beth yelling, and eventually even Dominic yelling to settle it all down. The mother dragged her son home and the whole class was too worked up to do anything seriously, so they told them to all go home.  
  
After they had put all the stuff away, they warmed up their bodies in preparation. Bethany sank to the floor in a splitz easily and leaned down. "Oh, yeah......" She sighed. " 'I was just trying to show the guys the thing in the Jackie Chan movie. I didn't mean for the stick to go flying.' " She mimicked as she rolled her eyes. Dominic laughed. She eyed him and smirked. "What you laughin' at? I saw the tike with the my little pony sticker on her face bite you."  
  
He rubbed his arm as he finished his practice kicks. "You'd never tell that was a demon with the pink bows and pigtails." He cracked his neck. "You ready to go?" She nodded. She got up and turned on the CD player full blast. Rock music began to pour around them. He grinned. She knew her music!  
  
The two of them began to circle each other playfully. He studied her. Hair in a pony tail out of her face, loose black draw string pants, white almost see through tank top, black bra strap sticking out from the side. Eyes attentive and predatory, steps light and well placed. He saw her left fist clench before he dodged her first attack.  
  
~  
  
~ Now and tell me you like it  
  
And tell me you want it  
  
You're mine  
  
And you don't need another one.  
  
Come on and tell me you like it  
  
And tell me you want it  
  
You're mine  
  
And another one to me ~  
  
~  
  
She was all fire tonight. Kick, dodge, punch, punch, hook, kick, turn, up, punch, kick, block, block, and on and on and on she went. The closest either had come to a real hit was her hair swiping the side of his face. If he wasn't so occupied he would've shook his head. She'd deny it, but he knew when given the change, she'd use her hair as a way of blinding someone. It was long enough for it, if she kept it loose like this more often instead of her braid.  
  
He threw a punch at her and she turned and threw one of her own punches. He caught her right fist with his as he used his legs to keep hers from moving. She struck out with her left only for it to be deflected and also immoblized. His upper part flinched back a bit as she tried to hit him with the back of her head. Failed attempt, and he quickly moved forward to keep it from happening again. Her back and his front were pressed tightly together.  
  
~  
  
~ Now and tell me you like it  
  
And tell me you want it  
  
You're mine  
  
And you don't need another one.  
  
Come on and tell me you like it  
  
And tell me you want it  
  
You're mine~  
  
~  
  
He felt her bottom move against his lower regions. She tried to make it seem it was only failed attempts at moving her legs. They both knew he had her legs down. God, she played dirty. And her plan worked long enough to get her right hand loose enough to try and hit him with her elbow. He had to let her go to dodge. Once he pulled away, she did a kick/punch combo and he was only able to block one of them. Her leg connected with his side and it threw him to the side.  
  
It threw him off, but didn't knock him down. He glanced at her and she was smirking smugly as he waited for her to attack. They both taunted the other to go first. He knew he would have her if she attacked, and he knew she would. She was a cocky one, and her pride in her own skill and her temper would never out last him. Even if she didn't have that against her, she could never compete against how much patience he had in him.  
  
Hey, years of unrequited love had SOME benefits.  
  
~  
  
~And the world will make you high  
  
What can you take from me  
  
That which you can not buy.  
  
Exhilaration  
  
Laughing and turning away.  
  
What can you take form me  
  
Now that you are inside.  
  
Intoxication~  
  
~  
  
He hid his grin when he was her loose her patience and go from defense and offense within a blink of an eye. Predictable. And a bit fancy. Flip forward with an axe kick with his name on it. Dodge. She's already up. I throw a punch, a kick, a second kick, and just to nock that smirk off, I use the same move she used against me, except the kick is what she blocks and the punch connects with her. She struggled against going back a few steps and made herself fall.  
  
'Heh. One for one. We're equal now. Oh, she's mad. Those perfect green eyes have just seen red. Let's see how far you'll take this, Bethany.' He thought to himself as she kicked up, fighting position so natural she must have been born like that. She wasn't smirking anymore. Now this was war!  
  
~  
  
~Now are you feeling enough  
  
To vilify what I love  
  
To sanctify what I hate  
  
Endowed with the need  
  
To carry over the life I lead~  
  
~  
  
She was in full force now. She wasn't gonna show this boy any mercy. She was relentless with her attacks. Punch upon kick upon kick upon punch upon punch upon punch...... The music lyrics they knew so well became a blur in the backround. Hook, crescent, dodge, upper cut, strike, side, side. She snarled. She was gonna bring him down, God damn it! She would!  
  
Her anger made her stronger, but it made her sloppy. He felt the force in her blows, but saw the weakness in how they were performed. All he had to do was wait for her to get sloppy enough. She was backing him up into a corner to try and over power him, to give him less room to maneuver. He had to act fast. After dodging her last punch, he grabbed her leg as she kicked and took her other hand as she tried to punch him. WHAM! He forced her into the wall just in time to take out her other arm before she could strike.  
  
~  
  
~Intoxicating enough  
  
To vilify what I love  
  
To sanctify what I hate  
  
Endowed with the need  
  
To carry over the life I lead~  
  
~  
  
They were both covered in sweat and breathing hard. He still had her leg hiked up to his hip as his other leg held strong just in case she tried to free the other one. She didn't. He had her right arm pinned above her head and her other arm was pinned by his elbow. She tried to move her left arm and winced inwardly. He was too busy trying to keep himself together to notice. 'Damn!' He thought to himself. She was affecting him. And she knew it. Hell, this close she could feel it.  
  
Dominic was only human, and male at that. He tried to think of some sort of an excuse along those lines when she smiled. Her right hand caressed the back of his hand. Her leg pressed closer to his hip and wrapped around him. What attack was this? They were so close, so painfully close. Faces barely inches away. She smiled, so sweet, so tempting. God help him, he couldn't take it anymore. It was too much. He was drowning in her.  
  
~  
  
~Intoxication~  
  
~  
  
He didn't want his eyes to close, but they did. Hers were too. He moved his elbow off her arm and felt her tug him closer. 'So close, never been so close. God, I love you Bethany. Say it! Damn it, I can't! Please know, Beth. Just know!' He thought to himself. Her loose hair ticked his cheek as their lips just barely touched and.......  
  
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  
  
Dominic slammed down on his alarm clock. "Fuck!" He murmured rasping, his throat dry despite all the sweat on him. He got out of bed into the cold morning air. It wasn't enough. He went straight to the bathroom and turned on the shower full blast. Cold, ice cold. He shivered and laid his head back against the glass. The burning on the inside of his wrist and on his chest began to go down, along with other things. He sighed.  
  
"Damn you, mi'lady! Damn you!"  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
Daddy Dearest  
  
Eli: Ain't I a stinker? The song is 'Intoxication' by Disturbed. 


	12. Daddy Dearest

Eli: Hey all! Glad you liked the chapter. Here's another one! Enjoy!!  
  
Gracie woke up late that morning. She knew she could take her time. Even if he was on time, he could wait a while. She took a shower and changed into a pair of hip huggers she had put out the night before. She tossed on a blue baby tank top that exposed her pretty little tummy. Then she pulled on an oversized blue jacket, kept open. She was fixing her hair into a ponytail with curls on the end when her Mom knocked on her door.  
  
"Come in." Grace told her, not taking her eyes off the mirror. Vicki came in, only half awake and still in her pajamas. She yawned. "Your Dad called. He says that-"  
  
Her daughter cut her off. "Won't be showing up? Cool, I'll spend the day with Chris." She said cooly as she finished the last curl. Perfect! She loved good hair days, especially if they were spent with her boyfriend.  
  
Vicki shook her head. "No, he said he is going to be late." She corrected. She shook her head as Gracie rolled her eyes. "Hey, be nice." Gracie shrugged her shoulders. "Gracie Clarice......" Vicki warned.  
  
"I'll be good, I'll be good." She promised as she turned her curler off. She checked herself over in the mirror. Again, Perfect! Not too much, not too little. Gracie applauded her fashion sense internally as she did one last look over in the mirror. She heard her Mom laugh and put her hands on her hips. "What? I am checking myself over."  
  
Vicky shook her head. "You remind me of your Dad when you do that. He was a fashion freak as well, at least he thought and acted like one." She said with a laugh. Gracie shook her head. "I look good, Daddy dresses like a lost surfer boy." Vicki started laughing harder, tears coming to her eyes. "Oh, c'mon, Mom. I am ready to have a bad Hawaiian shirt bond fire in the middle of his yard!" She said seriously as she put on her necklace.  
  
Just then the door bell rang. Gracie sighed and kissed her mom's cheek, a hard feat when she was laughing this hard. "I'll lock the door behind us." She told her as she rushed down the stairs. She jumped the last one and opened the door. "Hi Daddy!" She said enthusiastically, fake smile plastered onto her face.  
  
He gave her a big bear hug, gripping her so tight she thought he was going to burst. "Hey sweetie." He said softly. "Daddy, you're cutting off my circulation." She squeaked out. He let go of her slowly and she closed the door behind them. They walked down to his car, a black 1966 Chevelle SS . He opened the door for her, and she sat down lightly, automatically taking the Beach Boy CD he had in there out and replacing it with one of her own to cut down on small talk.  
  
Jake winced as her music came on. She was a hip hop/R&B whatever they called that kind of music these days. He didn't know too much about it, he was content with his old music from before Grace was born. But he let her have her way, spoiling her as he always had done. She was sitting quietly, nodding to her music. He turned it down a little, finally getting a good eyeful of what she had on under her jacket.  
  
"Gracie, does your mother know about this outfit?" He asked her, shocked his little girl was wearing something........ so revealing. Gracie hid a grimace of annoyance. "Grace?"  
  
She shrugged her shoulders innocently. "Ma said it was okay. She thought it was cute." She pouted. "Don't you think it's cute, Daddy?" She asked him sadly.  
  
He nodded his head. "Of course I do, sweetheart. You are a gorgeous little angel, but I think it shows a bit much. Just keep your jacket on." He told her, trying to sound cool, even though he wanted to turn around and force a long sleeved black turtle neck onto her. 'Let her have her space, let her have her own stuff going on.' He thought to himself. "So... How's school? Grades good and everything?"  
  
'No, of course not Dad. It takes me twice as long to get anything we do in class, except dance class that it, but you wouldn't know that because you have never made one of my performances, even though I have been taking dance since I was seven. To pass my classes, I get tutored by a freshman, and if he was a genius, I'd be embarrassed as hell!' she thought to herself.  
  
"Fine. Grades are good." She told him brightly. "Oh, I have been warned about some nomination for prom queen for sophomores, or something." She said slyly."  
  
He smiled proudly. "That's my girl!"  
  
Gracie tried not to shake her head. 'I haven't been your girl for a long time, Daddy.' She thought sadly. "You know, just in case I do win, most of the times the parents of said girl come to see her with all the royalty." She mentioned quietly, giving him a chance to participate in her life. He nodded. "I'll do my best to come, you know my bosses." He told her.  
  
Gracie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I know you'll try." She said pleasantly before staring out the window. 'That means no. Oh well, gave him a chance.' She thought to herself. 'Mom can't say I didn't.'  
  
He interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, wait, don't you need a date for that?" He asked sharper than he wanted. 'Damn!' She thought to herself. She shrugged. "One of my friends can be my date. Like Chris, ya know? Or maybe Dom. It's okay, Daddy calm down. You trust me, right?" She asked him, pout with bottom lip biting. He nodded as he went in and out of traffic. "Of course, sweetie. Just making sure. You know you're not suppose to date until you are...."  
  
"Seventeen, of course." She added. The car was silent then. She tried not to sigh or hiss. 'Ignorance is bliss.' She mused.  
  
-Later-  
  
Gracie smiled and waved to her Dad from the door of her house. Things hadn't changed much from when she was six. He still picked her up every two weeks, if that. He tried to pry into answers that would make him pull all his hair out if he knew the truth. He still tried to make up love with shopping sprees, not that she didn't take advantage of it. She picked up her bag and went into the house.  
  
'I'll always be seven to him.' She thought to herself sadly.  
  
Just then, She was lifted off her feet. "Whoa!" She said as she dropped her bags of clothes on the hall. Chris spun her around until they were both dizzy. "Put me down, maniac." She commanded playfully. He put her down and nuzzled her neck. "How was your day?" She asked him.  
  
"Terrible and painful." He mumble into her hair. "Yours?"  
  
"Better." She answered. "You smell like your uniform..." She complained.  
  
He cupped her face. "You smell like Bath and Body works." He complemented before he brushed his lips against hers. "Taste like it, too. Yummy." He told her before he kissed her again, and again, and they were about ready to take it upstairs when.......  
  
"Hands off, buddy." Joey commanded angrily. The teens broke apart breathless, laughing at him. Joey shook a finger at Chris. "You know better. Don't make me get the shovel." He warned as he hugged Gracie. "Hey little girl, how you doin'?" He asked playfully.  
  
She smiled, a real smile. It was funny to think such a simple guy knew more about her than FBI agent Daddy dearest. "Good, got spoiled. Got a Forensics DVD! Wanna watch?!" She asked excitedly. The boys felt their stomachs turn over. They had seen one too many of those types of documentaries. Vicki laughed from the couch in the next room. "Save it for later, Gracie. Let these weaklings keep their lunch." The girls broke out into laughter as Joey frowned and Chris picked up Gracie, not letting go until they were dizzy again.  
  
Coming Attraction:  
  
Without a Cause 


	13. Without a Cause

Eli: Hey all! LOL, thanks little dragon! And thank you everyone for the reviews!!!! They feed the starving artist!! Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!!!  
  
It was Saturday night and Teresa was getting bored. She wished they would just get here already so she could sneak out and go. She fingered the new bars and the dead bolt on the window and shook her head. 'Dad never learns... Good for me!' She thought to herself as she went over to her desk and felt for the tools no true tech chick should be without, not that she really expressed that side of herself anymore. She tried not to glance at her lonely computer at the other side of the room, not to mention the karaoke set with a mike that she had buried in her closet after years of use. She had dropped all but one of her computer classes and wasn't in choir anymore.  
  
But hey, things change.  
  
She talked to herself as she got her tools out and quietly worked on the windows. "Never though I'd use this stuff for breaking out of something the whole time they helped my computer break into stuff. Bet Dad wouldn't have gotten me all this stuff if he knew what I would be using it for now. Funny, won't let his kid go out, but would gladly let her hack into a computer. Probably won't even let me do that anymore if I tried to log on." The bars on her windows came off easily and she placed them on her bed. she got out her pliers to work on the security lines so that nothing would go off when she climbed out her window. "And to think I looked up to him once. Makes me sick."  
  
After she disabled the lines, she worked on the dead bolt from the inside and it was only a matter of seconds before it was unlocked. She gathered her tools back together and put them back in the hiding place in her desk. She collapsed on her bed and cuddled her gothic monkey, Crossbow Bite, as she turned onto her stomach and crossed her legs. "You're lucky you weren't here during the old days. I would have thrown you out, me being all miss girly girl extraordinaire." She told him bitterly as she made him face all her old pictures, most of them with cracks from her throwing them around. She picked up one of her in a pink dress with frilly ends and white lace. She was sitting on her Dad's lap. "See what HE did to me, CB?" She slammed the photo face down on her dresser. The glass came crumbling out, but she didn't care. She'd just clean it up when she got back.  
  
She got off her bed and checked out her face. She did a few minor touches before she went to look out her window again. Late. Always late. She hated it when they were late! She was about to open the window, climb out, slide down, and just wait for them down there before....  
  
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!  
  
She moved away from her window and shut the blinds. Then she pulled her comforter up over the bars. She grabbed her MP3 player and put it on as she leaned against the door.  
  
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!  
  
"Teresa? Teresa!" She rolled her eyes. 'Predictable.' When she heard him start to unlock her door, she pounded on it.  
  
"Yeah?" She asked coldly through the door.  
  
"Why didn't you answer?!"  
  
"Would you chill? I was listening to my MP3 player." She unlocked her door and opened it up a bit. "See?" She pointed to the small gadget blasting music. He was annoyed, she could tell. She knew all the right ways to push his buttons. Do enough of it innocently and he'd leave her alone, too angry to deal with her without strangling her. A few moments later and he pulled her door shut and locked it on the outside. She hissed. "Coward."  
  
She went over to her window. 'Finally! Took long enough!' She opened the window and climbed out. She quickly made her way down and got into the car. She slid right onto a guy's lap, not really caring who the hell he was. She passed up her MP3 player to supply some music.  
  
~  
  
All simple monkeys with alien babies  
  
Amphetamines for boys  
  
Crucifixes for ladies  
  
Sampled and soulless  
  
Worldwide and real webbed  
  
You sell all the living  
  
For more safer dead  
  
Anything to be loved  
  
~  
  
She rocked to the music as the guy she was sitting on rocked to her. The others around her weren't doing much better as the car swerved this way and that, speeding down dark alleys and streets. The girl next to her, Kim, was chugging down some dark liquid she kept in a water bottle. Teresa grabbed in from her when Kim started 'playing' with the guy riding shotgun from behind the seat. She took a swing of what ever it was and smirked.  
  
'God, I needed some of that!' She thought to herself as she finished it off. The guy she was sitting on grabbed the empty bottle away from her and turned it upside down. He frowned to find it empty. Teresa turned her body around. "Want a taste?" She asked him before he took one off of her.  
  
~  
  
Rock is deader than dead  
  
Shock is all in your head  
  
Your sex and your dope is all that were fed  
  
So fuck all your protests and put them to bed  
  
God is on the T.V.  
  
~  
  
Teresa felt wind hit part of her bare back and pulled back from him for a second, him attaching himself to her neck as he fumbled to get her shirt out of the way so that he could get lower. Someone had opened the sunroof and one of the girls was sticking out of it yelling at the top of her lungs. 'Looks like fun.' She thought to herself dizzily as she pushed the guy off her and stood on the seat to join her friend out the window. Her friend screamed and flashed some old woman her chest. Teresa laughed until she cried. The girl turned to her and blew smoke in her face as she started laughing as well. Teresa took it from her hand and inhaled.  
  
"Hey." The girl said slowly once she figured out it had been taken. She hit her weakly and took it back. They fought over it until it fell back inside the car. The driver screamed and the car went off onto the sidewalk before he got back on the road. The girls laughed and laughed and laughed. It was all sooooo funny!  
  
Teresa felt the guy she had been sitting on move behind her and reach up inside her shirt. She grinned as he started sucking and biting her neck. "Vampire boy...." She said with a giggle before she started laughing again.  
  
~  
  
1,000 mothers are praying for it  
  
We're so full of hope  
  
And so full of shit  
  
Build a new god to medicate and to ape  
  
Sell us ersatz dressed up and real fake  
  
Anything to be loved  
  
~  
  
-Later-  
  
They dropped her off at a place that wasn't her home. She struggled to get to the front door, but she did without tripping, though she hadn't managed to do it without causing a ruckus. The door was opened before she knocked. She shook her head as something in black clothing helped her into the house. She giggled as he led her into the house putting her hands over the person's face. "Beth, why you so fuzzy?" She slurred out before giggling. She put her head back as the laughing stopped and she finally passed out.  
  
Bethany ran down the stairs and groaned. "Reese, not again." She moaned lightly as she took her friend's limp body from her Father and took her up stairs to get her cleaned up and put it in bed. Ian picked up the telephone and dialed. "Hey, Gabe? Have you checked your daughter's room lately?" Pause. "Yeah, she's here. Yeah. From the smell of it, I'd say both." Pause. "It's alright. I know. No, murder is still illegal. Alright, in the morning then." He hug up the phone and went up the stairs.  
  
Beth had Teresa in the bathroom for now as she washed off things she rather not think about. She hoped she'd never get use to this like their parents had. She didn't know what had gotten into her best friends. She'd be okay for weeks, and then suddenly BAM! Teresa's at her house like this! Her parents watched from the door. Sara shook her head, nothing saying what was on her mind since her daughter was within ear shot.  
  
Teresa was cleaned up and put to bed. Beth grabbed all her old clothes and started putting them in the washer. She heard some rumbling noise come from the pocket and withdrew Teresa's MP3 player, playing the same song it had all night.  
  
~  
  
Rock is deader than dead  
  
Shock is all in your head  
  
Your sex and your dope is all that were fed  
  
So fuck all your protests and put them to bed  
  
God is on the T.V.  
  
~  
  
Coming Attraction:  
  
Just a Little Crush  
  
Song is "Rock is Dead" by Marilyn Manson 


	14. Just a Little Crush

Eli: Hey all!!! Thanks for all the B-E-A-Utiful reviews!!! The School Daze muse is very happy!!! LOL, CeredwenFlame, maybe he does, but there's more on that to come. Thanks so much for reading!! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!!!  
  
"And so Henry the Eighth took her, Catherine Howard, as his fifth wife..." Jamie's teacher had been going on about Henry's six wives for a little over half the class, and just about everybody had fallen asleep, save him and the girl sitting next to him, Misty. She was glancing at him and smiling. He just kept on staring at his Algebra 2 book and finished up his homework for that class. He had stolen the world history homework his teacher had been planning to give them from off her desk and had finished it by the time his teacher had gotten to how Catherine of Aragon died.  
  
His teacher looked up from her book and finally noticed she was putting her class to sleep. She decided to remedy that.  
  
Jamie was in the middle of quadratic equations when his teacher came over and slammed her ruler down on his desk. "James, perhaps you'd care to tell the class who Henry's sixth wife was?" She asked him coldly as the rest of the students woke up form the sound of the ruler banging on his desk. Jamie sighed. "Catherine Parr." He told her. She smiled.  
  
"Yes, Catherine Parr. She was born in 1512 and was already a widow when Henry married her on July 1, 1543." She continued on her lecture and Jamie went back to his homework. Time seemed to drag by. Misty was sending him notes now, which he answered politely, though he found it kinda annoying. He kept trying to hint that this was the end of the note, but she just kept on sending them on over. He tried not to growl when he found another note lying over the problem he was working on. He finally wrote her to stop writing him and was going to pass it back when the classroom door opened and a kid walked in.  
  
He was tall, thin, had on an orange t-shirt with the hybrid theory logo on it and some faded jeans. He had dark blue eyes and red hair. He was looking everywhere except at other students. It was painfully obvious he was new. He handed his schedule over to the teacher. "Class, this is our new student, Alex Johnson-Evers. I'm sure you will welcome him to our class." The class was silent until a kid in the back yelled out his salutation, making the class laugh. Alex didn't find it amusing. Ms. Varner handed his schedule back to him. "Take a seat, Alex."  
  
"Lex." The kid corrected quietly. He took the seat diagonal of Jamie and took out his notebook and started scribbling. The teacher continued on with her lecture as the class went back to sleep and Jamie went back to his homework. He finished up the problem and looked up to start on his last one and found yet another note lying on top of his book. Hadn't he sent her a note telling her to stop? He glanced over at her and she was smirking. He shook his head and opened the note up.  
  
Jamie,  
  
OMG! Is this class boring or what? What's up with the new kid? Think he's too good for us or something? And what kind of name is Lex? What is he, a comic book villain? Anyway, meet up with me after school, have something to ask you. I have to stop sending notes now because Ms. Varner is starting to look at me. See ya!  
  
XOXOXOXO  
  
Misty  
  
He shook his head again and glanced back at the kid. 'Don't look so high and mighty to me.' He thought to himself. He thanked whatever powers that be that she was done with notes. He finished his homework and cleared it off his desk. He took out his English binder and stared working on the essay that would be due in two weeks. He was almost done with the rough draft now. Jamie always tried to get his homework done at school. He never did homework at home, except for the stuff that he toyed around with to bring to science club, but then that wasn't really homework.  
  
His teacher finally finished her lecture and handed out the papers. He passed them back behind him without looking away from his paper. His teacher stood by his desk. "James. James." He was in his own little world. "Mr. Nottingham!" Jamie looked up, dazed.  
  
"Uh, yes mam?"  
  
"As I was asking, would you work with Alex and help him catch up with the new section?" She asked. Jamie nodded. He glanced back at Alex, who nodded at him. Jamie moved next to him. "Hi. Lex, right?"  
  
Lex nodded. "Yeah, and she was calling you James, but I'm guessing you don't go by that."  
  
"No, call me Jamie." He told him. "You need any help with this paper?"  
  
Lex shook his head. "Nah, I snagged it while I was up there and finished it while she was talking. It's faster to just read the chapter." Jamie laughed. "Yeah it is. Did the same thing. So...." He trailed off. The new boy fiddled with his notebook. "What were you drawing?"  
  
He flipped his notebook open with a smirk. Jamie studied all the drawings. They were pretty good. All mystical stuff. A phoenix, two warrior elves, a troll, and a black dragon. A very familiar looking black dragon. He traced it with his finger. "This is cool, my Dad has a tat like this. It's kinda faded, but it looks just like this. Where'd you get this from?"  
  
Lex just kinda shrugged. "I don't know. I just drew it. I kinda do that. Don't plan, just let it flow." Jamie didn't quite believe him and was going to ask more about it when the bell rang. He jumped over the desk and got his backpack. "Hey!" He turned toward Lex. "You know where I'm suppose to be heading?" He handed him his schedule. Jamie nodded. "This is my next class, I'll show you." Jamie led him out of class and down the hall.  
  
-Later-  
  
Jamie and Lex clicked. It was nice. Jamie liked having someone in class who didn't hate him. He was a year older than him, but didn't seem to mind taking the same classes. He was kinda quiet and shy, but then so was Jamie. He was really into art and had two notebooks full of his drawings. He didn't say much about his family, save that his Mom raised him and that they had moved to New York from Seattle for her job. No mention of Dad.  
  
School had just ended and they were laughing at Lex's picture of their teacher. As soon as Jamie stepped out of class, someone grabbed his collar and he came to a stop. Both boys turned to Misty. "Hey Jamie, didn't forget me now, did ya?" The smile on her face didn't reach her eyes. 'Ohhh, looks like someone is PO'd at me. What did I do this time?' He thought to himself. 'This is ridiculous! It's not like we're dating or anything!'  
  
He shook his head. "Nah, course not, Misty." He said calmly.  
  
She nodded and turned his companion. "Hi, I'm Misty, but Jamie's probably already told you." She fiddled with her grey and black jacket pocket. "Your Alex, right?"  
  
He nodded. "Alex, yeah. But call me Lex." He told her.  
  
"Ah okay, Lex." She nodded and turned to Jamie. "Hey, could I talk to you for a minute, hun?" She asked as she led him away from the crowds. She took his arm and whispered. "What are you doing with Mr. high and mighty over there?" She asked, a bit digusted.  
  
Jamie moved away from her and shook his head. "Nah, you have him all wrong! He's cool, an artist. He has a pciture he drew of that elf guy you like from Lord of the Rings. You'll like him, you too just need to get to know each other." He told her.  
  
She didn't look convinced, but tried to act like she was anyway. "Alright, I'll believe you. Anyway..." She smiled brightly. "There's this Halloween party coming up at my friend's house. She invited me. It's gonna be alot of fun. I was wondering..." She touched his arm lightly. "You want to come as my date?" She asked him.  
  
It took a minute for it to register in his head what she was asking. "Date?" He managaed to squeak out. She nodded. He looked her over. She had been his only friend since he had gotten here besides Lex. She looked so hopeful and exciteded by it, she was practically jumping. 'She must really want this... Well, she is my friend....' He thought to himself. "Sure. I'll go."  
  
She shrieked with happiness. "Alright. I have to go, but I'll call you!" She hugged him before she ran off. She waved to Lex as she passed him. He started cracking up.  
  
"Dude, what did you do? Tell her the Great Pumpkin was real just like Linus said so?" He asked.  
  
Jamie shrugged. "She asked me to be her date for some party. I said I'd go." Lex laughed harder. "What?" He just shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's a bit of a ditz, but she's actually smart. She has been my only friend in any of my classes since the beginning of the year, I owe her." He grinned. "Jealous?"  
  
Lex shook his head. "That girl's not my type." He replied. "Besides, she's all over you. She got drool all over her desk staring at you all period." He laughed again.  
  
Jamie winced. "Yeah, well, it's just a litte crush. So what?" They started heading toward the exit.  
  
Lex laughed again. "So remember to invite me to the wedding." Jamie shook his head and shoved Lex down the hall.  
  
Coming Attraction:  
  
New Breeds of Trouble 


	15. A New Breed of Evil

Eli: Hey all!! Sorry it was such a long time since an update. Bad school keeping the writers occupied. Lex as in Superman, Thelma. Sorry no Beth/Dom in this one. Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!  
  
Nicky ran up the driveway to her house. She hated it when he was late, and he didn't need another person screaming at him. His Dad was giving him hell, not that he had expected less, but Damn! 'No wonder he's a homicide detective. He could make a man piss his pants if he really wanted.' He thought to himself as he rang the doorbell.  
  
Midja opened the door and grinned. "Hey kiddo, right on time, so you're spared a speech." She told him as she pulled his little wrap off his head. "Not near the girls." She reminded him. "You can be a wannabe ghetto gangster all you want, but not in this house. I'm surprised Uncle Danny even let you leave the house in that get up."  
  
He pushed his hair back. "He didn't. He dropped me off at the library so that I could do my report, and I put it on in there." He hung his jacket up the hangers and looked around. "So where are my favorite little-"  
  
"NICKY!!!" The two little girls knocked him over from behind and sat on his back, making it hard for him to breathe. He pushed up with them on his back and they giggled. "Horsey ride, horsey ride!!!"  
  
"Later, now get off Nicky before he keels over, please." The girls groaned in disappointment, but got off all the same. As soon as he stood back up, he kneeled down and picked both of the girls up, one per arm. They giggled again and kissed his cheeks. "Okay, I have found my little cousins. Now where is my favorite little niece? Luke said he dropped her off."  
  
Midja looked up from packing her gym bag. "She's in the living room taking her nap. She should be waking up soon." She zipped her bag up and grabbed her cap. "Okay, I'm off to go instruct a million stick figures how to shake what little they have of an," She glanced at her girls. "A-s-s." The oldest frowned, not liking when the adults spelled things out to keep her from knowing.  
  
"Aunt Midja, if you don't like choreographing the show, then you should quit." Nicky told her.  
  
"It's not the job, it's the dancers. Besides, it's enough to pay for their college years." She came over to the little group. "Give Mommy a kiss." Her daughters leaned in and blew raspberries on her cheeks. She rubbed the spit off and Nicky shook his head. She kissed their foreheads and headed toward the door. "I won't be back until late. Lan said he would be in as soon as he got his desk cleared, so don't count on him coming in before me. The girls need to work on their Halloween costumes, so I hope you remember what you learned in home econ. Don't let them stay up past nine-thirty, and no twinkies until after dinner. See ya Nicky! Bye half pints!" And she was gone.  
  
Nicky carried two of his favorite girls into the Dinning room and placed them down on chairs. They had crayons and paper out and went back to drawing. They handed him a piece of paper and he started drawing a little as he stared over at his two little baby cousins.  
  
The oldest one, Kahlea, was six years old and reminded him of Midja. She liked her hair up in two pony tails on the side of her head, and she always, ALWAYS, wore a tutu with everything she wore. She had it on now, purple with silver, over purple leggings and a lavender shirt. she also had a princess crown wrapped around her ponytails. She always said she wanted to be ballerina and had been in ballet since she was three.  
  
The younger one, Nina, was four years old and reminded him of her Dad, Lan. She was a very physical little child, and never liked having her hair fixed. Like her Daddy, she liked building and creating. Midja let her dress herself now, and more often then not, she had on every color of the rainbow. Today, she had on bright orange pants with red flames, an electric blue shirt with green stripes, and white strawberry shortcake underwear over the pants. (He really hoped that she had another pair underneath her pants as well.) The kid was crazy!  
  
Lan and Midja had met during one of her play rehearsals. She had been ready to step out on stage and had slipped on one of the scenery pieces that had been left out. Her ankle got sprained and what turned out to be a rather pricey prop broke. He had come out to see what had broken and freaked. They screamed at each other until they had to be dragged away. A week later they ran into each other again and started arguing all over again. Eventually, it had become routine and the fighting stopped being mean and turned into flirting. And now eight years later they were married and had kids. Midja now choreographed and Lan did graphic designs.  
  
Just as he had just finished putting a sword in his fighter's hand, a groggy little girl was pulling on his shirt. He looked down at his last favorite little girl. "Hey Abbey!" He said as she plopped down into his lap. She was a definite cuddler, though no one could figure out who she got that from. She took a crayon and started finishing his picture for him. She liked to do that. He looked over and saw Kahlea working on a picture of that Angelina Ballerina mouse thing she loved so much. Nina was working on horse with cheetah spots.  
  
He shook his head as he looked between the three of them. 6-4-2. His favorite combo. He didn't know why, but he just took to all the little kids. He cheerfully gave up hangin' with his 'friends' to come down here and watch them. Same went for Andy. Deep in his messy room, the only thing he could always find through the mess was the box he kept all their stuff in: every school project, every new picture, and every last one of their pictures they gave him to keep.  
  
God, he felt like such a sap!  
  
"Unca Nicky, I finished the picture, see!" She told him. He raised the picture up and laughed. She had turned the sword into a flower with red flowers. He put it back down on the table as he moved her over to the chair next to the other girls. "I have to go to the bathroom, be good and stay still for a minute." He told them. They all smiled and nodded, so he went to the bathroom.  
  
And just as he expected, they had gone off without a trace.  
  
He looked around the Dinning room to make sure they had left the room. He walked out into the hallway. "Come out, come out, where ever you are!" He shouted as he went up to the closet and pulled it open. Nothing. He heard giggling from above him and smirked. Their room! He climbed up the banister so that the squeaky stairs wouldn't give him away. He peeked into their room and saw the three of them huddled together behind the bed, holding something. He tiptoed over to the bathroom and grabbed one of his secret just-in-case-the-girls-go-loose weapons.  
  
The girls waited and waited for that tall figure to appear so that they could throw their supply of stuffies that reaked of Mommy's old smelly perfume at Nicky. They all stared at the top of the door, never noticing something crawling in on it's stomach getting closer and closer and cloer until....  
  
"SURPRISE ATTACK!!!" Nicky yelled out as the girls got good doses of green jello thrown at them. They screamed and started trying to flee as they hit him with stuffies. He picked up all three of them and tossed them on the bed as he grabbed a jump rope and bound them together. He paced back in forth by the side of the bed. "Now why are my favorite trio picking on me?" He asked them playfully as he frowned. "Did I leave a barbie naked?" He asked. "Did I leave one of your books opened? Or...... Did I sit on mickey mouse again?!!?" He asked in mock horror as he pretended to cry. The girls all laughed as they struggled against the binds. Abbey wiggled out, releasing the other two. When he looked up from fake crying, he was being used as a ladder as Kahlea attached herself to his back and Nina was hanging off his arm and Abbey was rubbing the side of his hip.  
  
"Don't cry, Unca Nicky. We were kiddin'!" She apologized. He tucked Nina under his arm and groaned as he reached down and patted Abbey on the head. "I know, I know. But next time you go against me, I will pack you into a rocket and ship you off to where the wild things are!" He said warningly.  
  
Kahlea let go and jumped to the ground. "But Mommy said you liked the perfume!" She said seriously.  
  
"She did, did she? And I guess she said to pelt me stuffies as well, huh?"  
  
Nina pulled on his shirt. "She said to say what goes round, come round." Nicky rolled his eyes. Abbey pulled on his pants leg again. "Unca Nicky, how come Unca Chris come here no more to play wit us?" She complained. "He said he gonna come, but he don't!" The other two girls agreed. Nicky's eyes narrowed. "Uncle Chris spends his whole day with Aunt Gracie." He mumbled out. The girls flinched back. He shook his head and smiled. Hey, don't be like that. Why don't we go put in a movie and have pop corn?"  
  
"Yay!!" They all cheered and started rushing to the TV room. He watched after them and sighed. "You have no idea what you are missing, do you?" He said to no one before he followed them downstairs to have fun.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
I See Dead People 


	16. I See Dead People

Eli: Sorry I've been MIA. School and such... Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!!  
  
The three kids were all cuddled on the couch, the lights off and the windows covered. Beth had her back to the side and had her legs up on the couch. Andy was sitting behind her legs and had his on top of hers. Jamie was sitting upside down, his head almost on the floor and his legs curled over the top. They had food and drinks scattered everywhere, but they were too caught up in the old movie to really eat. It was late in the afternoon on Saturday, and their Mom was at work, and their Dad was gone for the weekend for his job.  
  
"I want to tell you my secret now." The boy in the movie said. "I see people.... I see dead people.... Some of them scare me."  
  
Andy scowled. "Wimp!!!" He called out as he threw a handful of pop corn at the TV. Beth and Jamie shoved him as they told him to be quiet. "But he's being a wimp!! It's not scary!" He complained.  
  
"Not to you! You've never woken up to a half mutilated body part lying near you." She snapped at him.  
  
"What'd you know?! Shane was very nice, he just dripped all over the bed!" They told him to shush, and went back to their movie. They were quiet for a while. They were just about to discover why the little girl was sick and were on the edge of their seats, never noticing the lock on the doors turning, or the door opening.  
  
SLAM!!!  
  
Jamie fell off the couch as Beth jolted, making Andy jolt as well. The light went on as they heard laughing. Bethany glared. "That wasn't funny!"  
  
Dominic smirked. "Yes it was!" The three siblings on the couch glanced at each other before they started throwing pop corn and candy in his direction. He dodged most of it, until Jamie picked up a milk dud, aimed, and shot, pegging Dom right in the forehead. They dropped their ammo and laughed. Dominic rubbed his forehead, looking not as amused as they were. He went over to where Jamie had been sitting and took his place, tossing popcorn at him as he cleared the seat off. "Hey!" Jamie complained. Dom pointed to his forehead, where a red welt was beginning to form. Jamie started laughing again as Dominic kicked him playfully. "You are your damn aim." He murmured.  
  
"Leave him alone, he can't help his deadly aim." Bethany said as she shoved his shoulder and turned up the volume on the movie. Andy scooted closer to Dom and stared at him. He leaned in and put his finger to the side of Dom's chest and felt his ribs. "Dominic, don't ya eat?" The teenager flinched back. "Yeah, I do. It just doesn't stay."  
  
Andy frowned. "Well, where does it go?" He asked. Beth and Jamie started giggling as Dominic coughed and grabbed the remote from Beth to turn up the volume, trying to distract him. The little boy was not so easily discourage. "Well, did it run away?" That caused another round of laughter. Andy didn't see what was so funny, he just wanted to know where everything went. "C'mon, where does it go?" He kept pestering them until it wasn't funny anymore. "It's in the same place where Daddy buries all the dead bodies." Beth snapped at him. Andrew, being Andrew, didn't even flinch at the thought.  
  
"It's in the backyard?" He asked as the big secret of the movie was about to be revealed.  
  
"Andy!" All three teens shouted. He shrugged his shoulders. Bethany paused the movie. "Junior...." She said smugly. He hit her with a pillow. He HATED being called that. He didn't think he should be called Junior just because he looked like his Dad, though Beth and Jamie loved to call him that to be annoying. "Ready to be quiet?" She asked.  
  
"Okay, I'll be quiet." He murmured. "But I'm not Junior!" He crossed his arms and slid down the couch.  
  
-Later-  
  
Andrew stomped up the stairs. 'It isn't fair!!!' He thought to himself. The big kids were watching a scary movie, but they said he couldn't watch it because there were things in it not suitable for someone only eight years old. To make things worst, Jeanne was trying to talk to him again. "Be quiet!" He told her as he passed her on the stairs. "You got me in trouble last time! Mommy hated the pink painted on her motorcycle!" He informed her. He stood still as she persisted. He began to listen again, when he remember that he wasn't suppose to and covered his ears. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Grandma Lizzie!! Jeanne won't leave me alone!!!" He whined out. He saw his great great grandmother appear, hands on her hips, reminding him of what his Mom looked like when he put the frog in the coffee maker. She tilted her head and scolded the young teenaged wielder. Jeanne hissed, but left.  
  
Andy smiled and thanked her before he went into his room, slamming the door behind him. He went over to his desk and turned on the light. He took out his Magic the Gathering cards and started going through them to make up a good deck. Nicky, Chris, and Dominic had taught him how to play when he was younger, and when they had grown out of it, he and Jamie had inherited their cards. Just as he had finished his new dragon deck, he heard the springs on his bed go down. He turned in his chair and saw someone sitting down on it, their face hidden in their knees.  
  
"Hello?" Andy asked it. It didn't respond. He came closer and studied it. The 'it' was a girl in a green tube top and jean pants. She had blonde hair mixed with red, and her nails had a broken set of those nails that changed color when you touched it with the right button. He went over to the bed and sat down next to her, careful not to scare her away. "My name's Andy. What's yours?"  
  
The girl turned her head and faced him. She looked confused, but didn't ask anything. He saw she had a necklace and leaned forward to look at it. "Iris. Is that your name? If it is, it's really pretty." He told her quietly. She gave him a strange sorta half smile before she looked around his room, not sure if she should be there. "It's okay that your here." He assured her. "A lot of people like you come here." She nodded and hugged her knees to her chest. Andy looked down and saw that she had blood stains on the front of her pants in the place where you really don't want it, so he decided not to ask her about how she died. Besides, she didn't look like she wanted to talk.  
  
Andy held up his deck and started telling her about the cards. Iris seemed to like it, and she smiled a bit more. Just as he showed her his 'Easter of the Dead' card, she looked uo toward his door and was gone. Just then, someone knocked on his door before coming in.  
  
Sara looked inside his room curiously. She had felt her bracelet warm up when she had passed and decided to check in. "Hi sweetie, whatcha doin'?" She asked him.  
  
He put his cards away in their holder. "Nothing, Mom. Beth and then wouldn't let me watch the movie with them! Tell them to let me watch!"  
  
She shook her head. "You're still too young."  
  
"But Mommmmmmmmmmmmmm......" He begged, using the dreaded Nottingham kicked puppy dog look. She turned her head in time. "Andrew, I said no. Besides, the movie is almost over." She looked over at his bed and noticed the dark spot on the edge. "Have another visitor?" She asked.  
  
"Maybe." He told her. She sighed. "Pass me your comforter." He pulled it off his bed and handed it to her. "Please try to encourage the blood drenched ones to stay somewhere that doesn't stain." She told him as she carried it off to the washer. "It's always the bloody ones that like to visit." She mumbled.  
  
-The Next Day-  
  
Andrew hated recess. All the kids liked to make fun of him because they thought he had 'imaginary friends'. He tried to ignore them, but they called him things. Bad things. And whenever he got back at them, he got in trouble. He had stopped playing along time ago and just tried to get away.  
  
Currently, he hung out on the roof. He had learned how to get up there from Beth after he told her how the kids made fun of him. He sat on the edge, wishing he could play kick ball with the others until someone tried to peg him with a wall ball. Then he slunk back.  
  
"Andy!!! Andy!!!" He heard someone call below. He carefully glanced over the side and groaned. It was Eden!! He scooted all the way back up against the wall. "Ah, c'mon, Andy! Don't you want to play? You can use my green DD jumpers instead of the pink ones!" She offered. He shuddered. No boy would be caught dead playing with DD jumpers, which were two pairs of jump ropes together that rotated different directions from the handles.  
  
He stayed quiet as her calling got closer and closer until... "Andy!" She said from beside him.  
  
"How'd you get up here, Eden?" He asked. She only smirked. 'She's soooo annoying!' He thought to himself. Eden was two years younger than him, but followed him around everywhere. She had brown eyes, dark skin, and really dark hair, and just would not leave him alone.  
  
"What are you doing up here?" She asked him.  
  
"None of your business." He told her smugly. "Now leave me alone!" He demanded, pointing out toward the playground.  
  
She pouted. "Fine, I don't care!" She turned on her heel and climbed back down. He shook his head. 'Crazy girl!' He thought to himself as he turned his head to the side to see a pair of eyes looking into his own. "Eden! I sa-" He stopped himself. "Hi Iris, sorry, thought you were stupid head." She laughed a little. "I don't know how she got on the roof, but I hope she doesn't do it again! My big sister taught me how to get on the roof so that they wouldn't make fun of me. They're really mean." He turned to her. "Did people make fun of you?" She nodded. "Are they the ones that hurt you?"  
  
Iris looked down and nodded, tears coming to her eyes.  
  
He nodded as well. "You probably won't want to talk about it with me, cause I'm a boy, but my Mommy is really nice, and she can see you to. She can help sometimes." She looked back over at him, cruiously. "She could help you, too. She'll understand, she's like me." The bell rang, and Andy stood up. "I have to go now, Iris, but it was nice talking to you." He went over to the side of teh fence and started climbing down. He glanced over at Iris, but she was already gone.  
  
-Later-  
  
"Ohhh, don't take out his eye, he still needs it!!!" Andy told the TV. "He has to get money to pay for his daughter's medicine!!!! No!!!" Andy turned his head away as they removed the man's right eye. "Oh, I hope Mulder kicks your-"  
  
"Andrew!" His Mom called. He looked up as his door opened. "Yes, Mom?" He asked sweetly. She was smiling, which was weird since she was usually grumpy after work and could be very scary. She came over and rubbed his head. "You are a very good boy." She told him. He looked at her suspciously as she kissed the top of his head and handed him a DVD. "You can watch the movie, but don't blame me if you get scared." She told him.  
  
"All right!!!" He jumped off his bed and went over to the DVD player, removing his X-File DVD for later. Sara shook her head and started to leave his room when she remmered what else she had come in there to do. "Andy?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"This is for you." She dug something out of her pocket and tossed it to him. "She said for you to have it." He looked down and saw a gold chain with a charm that said 'Iris'.  
  
Coming Attractions:  
  
All American Boy 


	17. All American Boy

Chris was leaning back in his desk reading his book. He was trying to figure out this one problem in his trigonometry book before the bell rang. He didn't bother asking his teacher, she just humiliated him when he did. It didn't take a genius to see that she didn't like him. His guest was that she had been one of those kids that the stereotypical jocks tortured, who was now in turn torturing every jock in her class. 'Bastards make it hard for the rest of us! Next time I see Dave, I hope he's just about to haze someone, just so that I have an excuse to kick his ass.' He thought to himself as the bell rang. He closed his notebook, then his math book, and carefully slipped them both into his backpack.  
  
He got up and headed toward the door, holding it open for one of his classmates before he left. She nodded her head and half smiled as she passed him. 'Well, there goes one less person that hates me. Just probably 100 or more to go.' He went straight for his locker to meet up with Gracie for lunch. He walked down the halls of his school, fake smiling at certain people, nodding to others. He saw Bethany and Dominic shoving each other playfully, and not so playfully as Dominic was pushed into a wall. 'Beth doesn't even see how much he cares. She better soon, I want to get that money. Might put Teresa back in her place again to loose that much.' He thought to himself. He looked away and then started laughing as he saw Jamie trying to get to his locker without dropping any of the four books he was holding. He came over and helped Jamie keep on balance.  
  
Jamie sighed as he felt someone straighten his books out and take off the first two. "Thanks, Chris! I felt like I was going to fall flat on my face."  
  
Chris smirked. "Yeah, I could tell." He glanced over at the books, tilting his head as he read the titles. "Hey, um, Jamie? How come you have two math books?" He asked. He watched as the younger boy smiled weakly and sighed again. "Misty plopped it down on top of mine and asked me to put it in her locker for her." He mumbled as he started walking toward their lockers. Chris walked with him and let the kid unload on how bad the girl was annoying him. He was jamming his books in his locker viciously. "I mean, I don't know what her deal is, we're still only friends. I just said I'd go on that date with her this Saturday!" He slammed his locker shut before he went over and opened hers, flinching back as the smell of her perfume came flowing out. He took the book from Chris and quickly tossed it in before he slammed her locker shut as well. Jamie visibly shook from having to smell it. Chris patted his back sympathetically before he started heading toward his locker again.  
  
He took off his backpack and was placing in his locker when he saw Gracie from the corner of his eye. He turned to her and was about to greet her when he noticed the smirk she had on her face and that her hands were hidden behind her back. He looked at her suspiciously as she put one arm around his waist and pressed up against his side. "Hey baby!" She said brightly.  
  
"Hey." He replied quietly as he slipped one arm around her in return. "What's up?"  
  
Her smirk got bigger. "Oh nothing, just this." She pulled out the school's newspaper from behind her and showed him the cover. Chris's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as he saw him and a couple of his buddies from his team on the front page. Gracie laughed at his expression as she cleared her throat and started to read it out loud. "All American Boys: A Look At Our Top Players." He groaned as she started reading the article, wincing at how corny it was and how it made him sound. He closed his locker and put his head against the cold metal. Gracie hugged him from behind, putting her cheek against his back. "Hey baby, I'm sorry, I was just kiddin'." She told him. He turned in her arms to face her. "I know, I know. It's not your fault." He brushed some loose hair away from her face. "It's just....... You know."  
  
She nodded. "I know. It's not your fault you get stereotyped."  
  
He grinned. "It's stereotyped."  
  
"Whatever." He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips before he went to nip at her neck. She giggled as she pulled him closer. She shivered as he got at a sensitive spot and turned him back so that their lips met. They barely noticed the 'Get a room's being shouted at them. Only when the bell rang to announce that lunch was over did they break apart. Chris groaned, knowing he was going to be starving to death by the time seventh period came around as Gracie giggled. "Ya know, this is really becoming a bad habit." He told her. "Maybe you should stop being so damn sexy. It's making me starve."  
  
She playfully bit his bottom lip. "Tough."  
  
-Later-  
  
As he had predicted, by the time it was seventh period, he was starving to death. His stomach was screaming for attention while his econ teacher went on and on about the stock market. When the bell rang, he dashed out of class as fast as he could. He went over to the vending machines and used up all his change getting junk food. He quickly downed a couple of bags of chips and an entire soda. He opened up another bag and started walking back toward his locker so that he could grab his Trig book to do his homework.  
  
He threw away the bags and the bottle in the trash by the lockers. As he approached his locker, he noticed something was tapped to the front of it. He sped up and looked at it. It was the front page of the school newspapers, except it had been altered. Someone had blacked out his image and his friend Darren's image, but had left Dave and Frank's pictures intact. They had added words so that it read "Now Those are REAL All American Boys, screw the chink and nigger."  
  
Chris just stared at the paper, not moving, not saying a word. He was too shocked to react at first. He felt this numbing inside him and he didn't like it at all. He opened his locker, grabbed his trig book, and shut it again. He folded the paper in half and turned down the hall, running straight into the man he wanted to see. "Darren, did you..."  
  
Darren held up the same newspaper cover as Chris. "Get one of these? Yeah, I did, and when I find out who the fuck did this......." He trailed off angrily, shaking his head. "That punkass bitch better be lookin' over his shoulder." He murmured as he crumpled the page up and threw it into the garbage can.  
  
Chris shook his head as well. He was angry now, but was better at hiding it than his friend. "I'm gonna go down to the office." He told him as he started heading away in the other direction. Darren grabbed his shoulder. "Why bother, man? They won't do nothin'. They never do! I say we ask around and find whose lame ass did this, and when we find him." He smacked his fist into his hand. "Really get the message across."  
  
He backed away from his friend. He wanted to do the same thing, but.... Well, he had seen what can happen when something like that happens. He remembered the reports of how badly decapitated the bodies were in that mansion after Uncle Ian had gotten Bethany back. Or the pictures of how badly his own dad had gotten this serial killer who molested girls, including Midja, after said serial killer had gotten out for the second time. He knew the people deserved to be punished, but......  
  
Chris shook his head for the third time. "Nah, I'm going down to the office. Gonna report it, and see what happens. Darren, you should head off to the training room and blow off some steam before you head home. See ya."  
  
It took an hour to get everything settled. He had walked in, saw the vice principal, and had showed him what he had gotten on his locker, just as the leader of Asian club went by and started yelling about laws and such. The office was shook up and it looked as if they were very intent on getting to the bottom of it. The leader of the club was still lecturing when he left.  
  
Gracie was sitting by the office door. She had seen him go into the office and had been waiting for him to come out. She slowly stood up as she looked at him and frowned. "Chris, what's wrong?" She saw him holding something and grabbed it out of his hand. She unfolded it and looked it over. Her eyes went wide in horror. She looked from the paper to him and threw her arms around his neck. He buried his head into her shoulder as she stroked his hair. "Oh god, baby, who did this?" He shrugged. "Why, why did they do this?"  
  
He shrugged again. "God only knows."  
  
Coming Attraction:  
  
Seven Minutes in Heaven 


End file.
